[-157 


ALVMNVS  BOOK  FYND 


LIFE     OF 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


I 


COLUMBUS: 

FOLLETT,    FOSTER    &    CO. 

1860. 


20, 


THE 


DEBATES  IN  ILLINOIS, 


BETWEEN 


STEPHEN   A.    DOUGLAS, 

AND 

ABRAHAM     LINCOLN. 


These  Keports  are  entirely  reliable,  and  present  the  posi- 
tion of  these  distinguished  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
in  their  strongest  light. 

Price,  bound  in  cloth,  50  cents.  Bound  in  paper,  stitched, 
35  cents.  LIBERAL  DISCOUNT  BY  THE  QUANTITY. 

PUBLISHED  BY  FOLLETT,  FOSTER  &  CO., 
COLUMBUS,  OHIO. 


LIVES   AM)  SPEECHES 


ABEAHAM   LINCOLN 


HANNIBAL  HAMLIN. 


LIVES  AND  SPEECHES 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


AND 


HANNIBAL  HAMLIK 


COLUMBUS,    O: 
FOLLETT,    FOSTER     &    CO. 

1860. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860, 

BY  FOLLET,  FOSTER  &  CO., 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  Ohio. 


STEREOTYPED  AT  TMI      •  PAINTED   BY 

FRANKLIN  TYPE    FOUNDRY,  APPLEOATE  &   CO., 

CINCINNATI.  CINCINNATI. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


POBTEAIT   OF    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 
BEPUBLICAX  WIGWAM   AT   CHICAGO. 
POETEAIT  OF  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN. 


(5) 

415709 


INDEX. 


FAGS 

LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 17 

MEMORABILIA  OF  THE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION, 97 

REPUBLICAN  PLATFORM, 99 

BALLOTS  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY, 104 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  EVARTS, , 106 

RESPONSE  OF  MR.  BROWNING, 107 

PRESIDENT  ASHMUN'S  VALEDICTORY, 109 

SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 113 

AT  CINCINNATI,  SEPTEMBER,  1859, 115 

ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS,  IN  CONGRESS,  JUNE   20, 

1848, 154 

IN  REPLY  TO  DOUGLAS,  REPRESENTATIVES'  HALL,  SPRING- 
FIELD, JUNE  26,  1857, 170 

AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE,  FEBRUARY  27,  1860, 188 

AT  COLUMBUS,  SEPTEMBER,  1859, 214 

AT  PEORIA,  OCTOBER  16,  1854, 251 

LIFE  OF  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN, 305 


LIFE 


OP 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


BY 


W.    D.    HOWELLS. 


PREFACE 


WHEN  one  lias  written  a  hurried  book,  one  likes 
to  dwell  upon  the  fact,  that  if  the  time  had  not 
been  wanting  one  could  have  made  it  a  great  deal 
better. 

This  fact  is  of  the  greatest  comfort  to  the  author, 
and  not  of  the  slightest  consequence  to  anybody 
else. 

It  is  perfectly  reasonable,  therefore,  that  every 
writer  should  urge  it. 

A  work  which  seeks  only  to  acquaint  people  with 
the  personal  history  of  a  man  for  whom  they  are 
asked  to  cast  their  votes — and  whose  past  ceases  to 
concern  them  in  proportion  as  his  present  employs 
them — will  not  be  numbered  with  those  immortal 
books  which  survive  the  year  of  their  publication. 
It  does  not  challenge  criticism;  it  fulfills  the  end 
of  its  being  if  it  presents  facts  and  incidents  in  a 
manner  not  altogether  barren  of  interest. 

W) 


Xii  PREFACE. 

It  is  believed  that  the  following  biographical  sketch 
of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  will  be  found  reliable.  The 
information  upon  which  the  narrative  is  based,  has 
been  derived  chiefly  from  the  remembrance  of  MR. 
LINCOLN'S  old  friends,  and  may,  therefore,  be  con- 
sidered authentic.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add, 
that  no  one  but  the  writer  is  responsible  for  his 
manner  of  treating  events  and  men. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MM 

Lincoln's  Ancestry— Em  igration  to  Kentucky — Lincoln's  Grand- 
father killed  by  Indians — Dispersion  of  family — Birth  of  Lin- 
coln— Parentage — First  Schooling — Removal  to  Indiana — 
Forest  Life— First  Flat-boat  Trip  to  New  Orleans— Death  of 
Lincoln's  Mother — Removal  to  Illinois — The  Historic  Rails...  17 


CHAPTER  II. 

Denton  Offutt — Another  Flat-boat  Trip  to  New  Orleans — Boat 
built  and  Trip  made — Lincoln's  Location  at  New  Salem — First 
Speech — Self-Education — Ardor  in  Study — Favorite  Authors 
— Practicing  Polemics — "  Clary's  Grove  Boys  " — Defense  of 
Jack  Armstrong's  Son 25 

CHAPTER  III. 

Black  Hawk's  "War — Brief  Review  of  its  Events — Failure  of 
Offutt  in  Business — Lincoln  Volunteers  and  is  made  Captain 
— Ir.cidatLk  t>f  the  Campaign — First  legislative  Canvass — 
Popularity — Surveying  Experiences — Lincoln's  Store — Ac- 
count of  the  Purchasers — Failure  of  the  Proprietors— Pay- 
ment of  forgotten  Debt 36 

(xiii) 


XIV  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

PAGE 

Lincoln's  legislative  Career  —  Rage  for  Public  Improvements  in 
Illinois  —  Lincoln's  Votes  in  the  Legislature  —  First  Opposition 
to  Douglas  —  The  Long  Nine—  Electioneering  Candidate  — 
Admiration  of  Lincoln's  old  Neighbors  for  him  —  Lincoln 
studies  Law  ...............................................................  ,**,.  44 


CHAPTER  V. 

Retrospective—  Lincoln's  Position  twenty  Years  ago  —  Practice 
of  the  Law  —  Characteristics  as  a  Lawyer  —  Marriage  —  Cam- 
paign of  1844  —  Election  to  Congress  ....................................  50 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Lincoln  in  Congress  —  The  Mexican  War  —  Opposition  to  it  — 
Speech  and  Resolutions  against  the  War  —  Speech  in  Favor  of 
River  and  Harbor  Improvements  —  Abolition  of  Slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  —  Lincoln's  Proposition  —  The  Wilmot 
Proviso  —  Retirement  from  Congress  ....................................  56 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Whig  Party  —  The  Free  Soilers  —  Lincoln's  Services  in  the 
Taylor  and  Scott  Campaigns—  Decay  of  the  Whig  Party—  Re- 
peal of  the  Missouri  Compromise  —  Lincoln  once  more  in  the 
Field  —  Election  of  Trumbull  to  the  Senate  —  Lincoln's  Sacri- 
fices of  personal  Ambition  —  The  Anti-Nebraska  State  Conven- 
tion —  Formation  of  the  Republican  Party  in  Illinois  ............  66 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Vote  for  Lincoln  in  the  National  Convention  of  1856—  Position 
in  the  Fremont  Campaign  —  Debates  with  Douglas  —  Letter  to 
Doctor  Canisius  on  Naturalization  —  Speeches  in  Ohio  and  the 
Eastern  States....  .......................................  77 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PAOB 

Chicago  Convention— Nomination  of  Lincoln— His  Reception  of 
the  News — Visit  of  the  Committee  of  OflScial  Announcement- 
Speeches  of  Mr.  Ashmun  and  Lincoln — Letter  of  Acceptance 
— Lincoln  at  Home — His  Appearance,  etc 88 


LIFE   OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

IT  is  necessary  that  every  American  should  have  an 
indisputable  grandfather,  in  order  to  be  represented  in 
the  Revolutionary  period  by  actual  ancestral  service, 
or  connected  with  it  by  ancestral  reminiscence.  Fur- 
ther back  than  a  grandfather  few  can  go  with  satisfac- 
tion. Everything  lies  wrapt  in  colonial  obscurity  and 
confusion ;  and  you  have  either  to  claim  that  the  Smiths 
came  over  in  the  Mayflower,  or  that  the  Joneses  were 
originally  a  Huguenot  family  of  vast  wealth  and  the 
gentlest  blood ;  or  that  the  Browns  are  descended  from 
the  race  of  Powhattan  in  the  direct  line ;  or  you  are 
left  in  an  extremely  embarrassing  uncertainty  as  to  the 
fact  of  great-grandparents. 

We  do  not  find  it  profitable  to  travel  far  into  the  past 
in  search  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  ancestry.  There  is  a 
dim  possibility  that  he  is  of  the  stock  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Lincolns,  of  Plymouth  colony ;  but  the  noble  sci- 
ence of  heraldry  is  almost  obsolete  in  this  country,  and 

(17) 


CF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

none  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  family  seems  to  have  been  aware 
of  the  preciousness  of  long  pedigrees,  so  that  the  records 
are  meagre.  The  first  that  is  known  of  his  forefathers 
is  that  they  were  Quakers,  who  may  have  assisted  in 
those  shrewd  bargains  which  honest  William  Penn 
drove  with  the  Indians,  for  we  find  them  settled  at  an 
early  day  in  the  old  county  of  Berks,  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  doubtless  some  of  their  descendants  yet  remain. 
Whether  these  have  fallen  away  from  the  calm  faith  of 
their  ancestors  is  not  a  matter  of  history,  but  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  family  from  which  the  present  Abraham 
Lincoln  derives  his  lineage,  long  ago  ceased  to  be  Qua- 
ker in  everything  but  its  devout  Scriptural  names.  His 
grandfather,  (anterior  to  whom  is  incertitude,  and  abso- 
lute darkness  of  names  and  dates,)  was  born  in  Rock- 
ingham  county,  Virginia,  whither  part  of  the  family  had 
emigrated  from  Pennsylvania;  and  had  four  brothers, 
patriarchially  and  apostolically  named  Isaac,  Jacob, 
John,  and  Thomas ;  himself  heading  the  list  as  Abra- 
ham Lincoln. 

The  descendants  of  Jacob  and  John,  if  any  survive, 
still  reside  in  Virginia;  Thomas  settled  in  the  Cumber- 
land region,  near  the  adjunction  of  North  Carolina, 
Tennessee,  and  Virginia,  and  very  probably  his  chil- 
dren's children  may  there  be  found.  Late  in  the  last 
century,  Abraham,  with  his  wife  and  five  children,  re- 
moved from  Buckingham  to  Kentucky,  at  a  time  when 
the  border  was  the  scene  of  savage  warfare  between 
the  Indians  and  the  whites,  and  when  frontier  life  was 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.          19 

s 

diversified  by  continual  incursions,  repulsions,  and  re- 
prisals, on  one  side  and  on  the  other.  In  one  of  these 
frequent  invasions,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  killed  by 
the  Indians,  who  stole  upon  him  while  he  was  at  work 
and  shot  him.  There  is  historical  mention  made  of  an 
Indian  expedition  to  Hardin  county,  Kentucky,  in  1781, 
which  resulted  in  the  massacre  of  some  of  the  settlers ; 
but  the  date  of  Lincoln's  death  is  fixed  some  three  years 
later,  and  there  is  no  other  account  of  it  than  family 
tradition. 

His  wife,  his  three  sons  and  two  daughters  survived 
him  ;  but  the  dispersion  of  his  family  soon  took  place ; 
the  daughters  marrying,  and  the  sons  seeking  their  for- 
tunes in  different  localities.  Of  the  latter,  Thomas  Lin- 
coln, the  father  of  Abraham  Lincoln  of  to-day,  was  the 
youngest,  and  doubtless  felt  more  severely  than  the  rest 
the  loss  which  had  befallen  them.  They  were  poor, 
even  for  that  rude  time  and  country;  and  as  a  child, 
Thomas  made  acquaintance  only  with  hardship  and  pri- 
vation. He  was  a  wandering,  homeless  boy,  working 
when  he  could  find  work,  and  enduring  when  he  could 
not.  He  grew  up  without  education  ;  his  sole  accom- 
plishment in  chirography  being  his  own  clumsy  signa- 
ture. At  twenty-eight  he  married  Lucy  Hanks,  and 
settled  in  Hardin  county,  where,  on  the  12th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1809,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born. 

Lincoln's  mother  was,  like  his  father,  Virginian  ;  but 
beyond  this,  little  or  nothing  is  known  of  her.  From 
both  his  parents  young  Lincoln  inherited  an  iron  con- 


20          LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

stitution  and  a  decent  poverty.  From  his  father  came 
that  knack  of  story-telling,  which  has  made  him  so  de- 
lightful among  acquaintances,  and  so  irresistible  in  his 
stump  and  forensic  drolleries.  It  is  a  matter  of  some 
regret  that  the  information  with  regard  to  Thomas  Lin- 
coln and  his  wife  is  so  meager.  The  information  is, 
however,  not  altogether  necessary  to  the  present  history, 
and  the  conjecture  to  which  one  is  tempted  would  he  as 
idle  as  impertinent.  It  is  certain  that  Lincoln  cherished, 
with  just  pride,  a  family  repute  for  native  ability,  and 
alluded  to  it  in  after  life,  when  he  felt  the  first  impulses 
of  ambition,  and  began  in  earnest  his  struggle  with  the 
accidents  of  ignorance  and  poverty. 

A  younger  brother  of  Abraham's  died  in  infancy ; 
and  a  sister,  older  than  himself,  married  and  died  many 
years  ago.  With  her  he  attended  school  during  his 
early  childhood  in  Kentucky,  and  acquired  the  alpha- 
bet, and  other  rudiments  of  education.  The  schooling 
which  Abraham  then  received  from  the  books  and  birch 
of  Zachariah  Riney  and  Caleb  Hazel,  (of  pedagogic 
memory,)  and  afterward  from  Azel  W.  Dorsey,*  and 
one  or  two  others  in  Indiana,  amounted  in  time  to 
nearly  a  year,  and  can  not  be  otherwise  computed.  It 
is  certain,  however,  that  this  brief  period  limits  his  scho- 
lastic course.  Outside  of  it,  his  education  took  place 
through  the  rough  and  wholesome  experiences  of  border 

*Tbis  gentleman  is  still  living  in  Schuyler  county,  Illinois. 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.         21 

life,  the  promptings  of  a  restless  ambition,  and  a  pro- 
found love  of  knowledge  for  its  own  sake.  Under  these 
influences,  he  has  ripened  into  a  hardy  physical  man- 
hood, and  acquired  a  wide  and  thorough  intelligence, 
without  the  aid  of  schools  or  preceptors. 

In  the  autumn  of  1816,  when  Abraham  was  eight 
years  old,  his  father  determined  to  quit  Kentucky.  Al- 
ready the  evil  influences  of  slavery  were  beginning  to 
be  felt  by  the  poor  and  the  non-slaveholders.  But  the 
emigration  of  Thomas  Lincoln  is,  we  believe,  to  be  chiefly 
attribute  to  the  insecurity  of  the  right  by  which  he  held 
his  Kentucky  land ;  for,  in  those  days,  land-titles  were 
rather  more  uncertain  than  other  human  affairs.  Aban- 
doning his  old  home,  and  striking  through  the  forests  in 
a  northwesterly  direction,  he  fixed  his  new  dwelling- 
place  in  the  heart  of  the  "  forest  primeval "  of  what  is 
now  Spencer  county,  Indiana.  The  dumb  solitude  there 
had  never  echoed  to  the  ax,  and  the  whole  land  was  a 
wilderness. 

The  rude  cabin  of  the  settler  was  hastily  erected,  and 
then  those  struggles  and  hardships  commenced  which 
are  the  common  trials  of  frontier  life,  and  of  which  the 
story  has  been  so  often  repeated.  Abraham  was  a  hardy 
boy,  large  for  his  years,  and  with  his  ax  did  manful 
service  in  clearing  the  land.  Indeed,  with  that  imple- 
ment, he  literally  hewed  out  his  path  to  manhood ;  for, 
until  he  was  twenty-three,  the  ax  was  seldom  out  of  his 
hand,  except  in  the  intervals  of  labor,  or  when  it  was  ex- 
changed for  the  plow,  the  hoe,  or  the  sickle.  His  youth- 


22         LIFE    AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

ful  experiences  in  this  forest  life  did  not  differ  from  those 
familiar  to  many  others.  As  an  adventurous  boy,  no 
doubt  the  wood  was  full  of  delight  and  excitement  to  him. 
No  doubt  he  hunted  the  coon,  trapped  the  turkey,  and 
robbed  the  nest  of  the  pheasant.  As  a  hunter  with  the 
rifle,  however,  he  did  not  acquire  great  skill,  for  he  has 
never  excelled  an  exploit  of  his  eighth  year,  when  he 
shot  the  leader  of  a  flock  of  turkeys  which  ventured 
within  sight  of  the  cabin  during  his  father's  absence. 

The  family  had  hardly  been  two  years  in  tiieir  new 
home  when  it  was  desolated  by  the  death  of  Graham's 
mother.  This  heavy  loss  was  afterward  partially  re- 
paired by  the  marriage  of  his  father  to  Mrs.  Sally  John- 
ston, of  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky.  She  was  the  parent 
of  three  children  by  a  former  husband,  and  was  always  a 
good  and  affectionate  mother  to  Thomas  Lincoln's  moth- 
erless son.* 

The  Lincolns  continued  to  live  in  Spencer  county, 
until  1830,  nothing  interrupting  the  even  tenor  of  Abra- 
ham's life,  except  in  his  nineteeth  year,  a  flat-boat  trip 
to  New  Orleans.  He  and  a  son  of  the  owner  composed 
the  crew,  and  without  other  assistance,  voyaged 

"  Down  the  beautiful  river, 

Past  the  Ohio  shore,  and  past  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash, 
Into  the  golden  stream  of  the  broad  and  swift  Mississippi," 

Trafficking  here  and  there,  in  their  course,  with  the 

*  Mrs.  Lincoln  is  still  living,  in  Coles  county,  Illinois. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  23 

inhabitants,  and  catching  glimpses  of  the  great  world  so 
long  shut  out  by  the  woods.  One  night,  having  tied  up 
their  "cumbrous  boat,"  near  a  solitary  plantation  on  the 
sugar  coast,  they  were  attacked  and  boarded  by  seven 
stalwart  negroes;  but  Lincoln  and  his  comrade,  after  a 
severe  contest  in  which  both  were  hurt,  succeeded  in 
beating  their  assailants  and  driving  them  from  the  boat. 
After  which  they  weighed  what  anchor  they  had,  as 
speedily  as  possible,  and  gave  themselves  to  the  middle 
current  again.  With  this  sole  adventure,  Lincoln  re- 
sumed his  quiet  backwoods  life  in  Indiana. 

Four  years  afterward,  on  the  first  of  March,  1830, 
his  father  determined  to  emigrate  once  more,  and  the 
family  abandoned  the  cabin  which  had  been  their  .home 
so  long,  and  set  out  for  Illinois.  The  emigrant  company 
was  made  up  of  Thomas  Lincoln's  family,  and  the  fami- 
lies of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  two  sons-in-law.  Their  means  of 
progress  and  conveyance  were  ox-wagons,  one  of  which 
Abraham  Lincoln  drove.  Before  the  month  was  elapsed 
they  had  arrived  at  Macon  county,  Illinois,  where  they 
remained  a  short  time,  and  Lincoln's  family  "  located  " 
on  some  new  land,  about  ten  miles  northwest  of  Deca- 
tur,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Sangamon  river,  at  a 
junction  of  forest  and  prairie  land.  Here  the  father 
and  son  built  a  log-cabin,  and  split  rails  enough  to  fence 
in  their  land.  It  is  supposed  that  these  are  the  rails 
which  have  since  become  historic ;  though  they  were  by 
no  means  the  only  ones  which  the  robust  young  back- 
woodsman made.  Indeed,  there  are  other  particular 


24         LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

rails*  which  dispute  a  celebrity  somewhat  indifferent 
to  the  sincere  admirer  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  work  done 
was  in  the  course  of  farm  labor,  and  went  to  the  devel- 
opment of  Mr.  Lincoln's  muscle.  Otherwise  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  perceive  how  it  has  affected  his  career. 


*  Mr.  George  Close,  the  partner  of  Lincoln  in  the  rail-splitting  business,  saya 
that  Lincoln  was,  at  this  time,  a  farm  laborer,  working  from  day  to  day,  for 
different  people,  chopping  wood,  mauling  rails,  or  doing  whatever  was  to  bo 
done.  The  country  was  poor,  and  hard  work  was  the  common  lot ;  the  heaviest 
share  falling  to  young  unmarried  men,  with  whom  it  was  a  continual  struggle 
to  earn  a  livelihood.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Close  made  about  one  thousand  rails  to- 
gether, for  James  Hawks  and  William  Miller,  receiving  their  pay  in  homespun 
clothing.  Lincoln's  bargain  with  Miller's  wife,  was,  that  he  should  have  one 
yard  of  brown  jeans,  (richly  dyed  with  walnut  bark,)  for  every  four  hundred 
rails  made,  until  he  should  have  enough  for  a  pair  of  trowsers.  As  Lincoln  wag 
already  of  great  altitude,  the  number  of  rails  that  went  to  the  acquirement  of 
his  pantaloons  was  necessarily  immense. 


CHAPTER  II. 

IN  his  time,  Denton  Offutt  was  a  man  of  substance 
an  enterprising  and  adventurous  merchant,  trading  be- 
tween the  up-river  settlements  and  the  city  of  New 
Orleans,  and  fitting  out  frequent  flat-boat  expeditions  to 
that  cosmopolitan  port,  where  the  French  voyageur  and 
the  rude  hunter  that  trapped  the  beaver  on  the  Osage  and 
Missouri,  met  the  polished  old-world  exile,  and  the 
tongues  of  France,  Spain,  and  England  made  babel  in 
the  streets.  In  view  of  his  experience,  it  is  not  too  ex- 
travagant to  picture  Denton  Offutt  as  a  backwoods 
Ulysses,  wise  beyond  the  home-keeping  pioneers  about 

him — 

"  Forever  roaming  with  a  hungry  heart," 

bargaining  with  the  Indians,  and  spoiling  them,  doubt- 
less, as  was  the  universal  custom  in  those  times;  learn- 
ing the  life  of  the  wild  Mississippi  towns,  with  their  law- 
less frolics,  deep  potations,  and  reckless  gambling;  meet- 
ing under  his  own  roof-tree  the  many-negroed  planter 
of  the  sugar-coast,  and  the  patriarchal  Creole  of  Louis- 
iana ;  ruling  the  boatman  who  managed  his  craft,  and 
defying  the  steamboat  captain  that  swept  by  the  slow 
broad-horn  with  his  stately  palace  of  paint  and  gilding; 

with  his  body  inured  to  toil  and  privation,  and  with  all 
3  (25) 


26  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

his  wits  sharpened  by  traffic;  such,  no  doubt,  was  Denton 
Offutt,  who  had  seen 

:t  Cities  of  men, 

And  manners,  climates,  councils,  governments," 

and  such  was  one  of  Lincoln's  earliest  friends.  He  quick- 
ly discovered  the  sterling  qualities  of  honesty  and  fidelity, 
and  the  higher  qualities  of  intellect  which  lay  hid  under 
the  young  Kentuckian's  awkward  exterior,  and  he  at 
once  took  Lincoln  into  his  employment.  He  was  now 
about  sending  another  flat-boat  to  New  Orleans,  and  he 
engaged  Lincoln,  and  the  husband  of  one  of  Lincoln's 
step-sisters,  together  with  their  comrade,  John  Hanks,* 
to  take  charge  of  his  craft  for  the  voyage  from  Beards- 
town,  in  Illinois,  to  the  Crescent  City. 

In  this  winter  of  1830-31,  a  deep  snow,  long  remem- 
bered in  Illinois,  covered  the  whole  land  for  many  weeks, 
and  did  not  disappear  until  the  first  of  March,  when  the 
waters  of  the  thaw  inundated  the  country.  Overland 
travel  from  Macon  county  to  Beardstown  was  rendered 
impossible ;  Lincoln,  and  his  relative,  therefore,  took  a 
canoe  and  descended  the  Sangamon  river  to  Springfield, 
where  they  found  Offutt.  He  had  not  succeeded  in 
getting  a  flat-boat  at  Beardstown,  as  he  expected  ;  but 
with  innumerable  flat-boats  growing  up  in  their  primal 
element  of  timber  about  him,  he  was  not  the  man  to  be 
baffled  by  the  trifling  consideration  that  he  had  no  flat- 
boat  built.  He  offered  to  Lincoln  and  each  of  his 

*  Now  a  well  known  railroad  man  in  Illinois. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  27 

hiends,  twelve  dollars  a  month  for  the  time  they  should 
be  occupied  in  getting  out  lumber,  and  making  the 
boat.  The  offer  was  accepted.  The  ax  did  its  work ;  the 
planks  were  sawed  with  a  whip-saw  ;  Denton's  ark  was 
put  together,  and  the  trip  to  New  Orleans  triumphantly 
and  profitably  made. 

On  his  return  to  Illinois,  Lincoln  found  that  his  father 
had  (in  pursuance  of  a  previous  intention)  removed 
from  Macon,  and  was  now  living  in  Coles  county.  His 
relative  rejoined  his  family  there ;  but  New  Salem,  on 
the  Sangamon  river,  became  the  home  of  Lincoln,  whose 
"  location  "  there  was  accidental  rather  than  otherwise. 
He  was  descending  the  river  with  another  flat-boat  for 
Offutt,  and  near  New  Salem  grounded  on  a  dam.  An 
old  friend  and  ardent  admirer,  who  made  his  acquaint- 
ance on  this  occasion,  says  that  Lincoln  was  standing  in 
the  water  on  the  dam,  when  he  first  caught  sight  of 
him,  devoting  all  his  energies  to  the  release  of  the  boat. 
His  dress  at  this  time  consisted  of  a  pair  of  blue  jeans 
trowsers  indefinitely  rolled  up,  a  cotton  shirt,  striped 
white  and  blue,  (of  the  sort  known  in  song  and  tradition 
as  hicJcory,*)  and  a  buckeye-chip  hat  for  which  a  demand 
of  twelve  and  a  half  cents  would  have  been  exorbitant. 

The  future  president  failed  to  dislodge  his  boat ; 
though  he  did  adopt  the  ingenious  expedient  of  lighten- 
ing it  by  boring  a  hole  in  the  end  that  hung  over  the 
dam  and  letting  out  the  water — an  incident  which  Mr. 
Douglas  humorously  turned  to  account  in  one  of  hia 
speeches.  The  boat  stuck  there  stubborn,  immovable. 


28          LIFE    AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

Offutt,  as  has  been  seen,  was  a  man  of  resource  and 
decision.  He  came  ashore  from  his  flat-boat  and  reso- 
lutely rented  the  very  mill  of  which  the  dam  had  caused 
his  disaster,  together  with  an  old  store-room,  which  he 
filled  with  a  stock  of  goods,  and  gave  in  the  clerkly 
charge  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  with  the  munificent  salary 
of  fifteen  dollars  a  month. 

Lincoln  had  already  made  his  first  speech.  General 
"W.  L.  D.  Ewing,  and  a  politician  named  Posey,  who  after- 
ward achieved  notoriety  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  had 
addressed  the  freemen  of  Macon  the  year  previous,  "  on 
the  issues  of  the  day."  Mr.  Posey  had,  however,  in 
violation  of  venerable  precedent  and  sacred  etiquette, 
failed  to  invite  the  sovereigns  to  drink  something.  They 
were  justly  indignant,  and  persuaded  Lincoln  to  reply, 
in  the  expectation  that  he  would  possibly  make  himself 
offensive  to  Posey.  Lincoln,  however,  took  the  stump 
with  characteristic  modesty,  and  begging  his  friends  not 
to  laugh  if  he  broke  down,  treated  very  courteously  the 
two  speakers  who  had  preceded  him,  discussed  questions 
of  politics,  and  in  his  peroration  eloquently  pictured  the 
future  of  Illinois.  There  was  sense  and  reason  in  his 
arguments,  and  his  imaginative  flight  tickled  the  State 
pride  of  the  Illinoians.  It  was  declared  that  Lincoln 
had  made  the  best  speech  of  the  day;  and  he,  to  his  great 
astonishment,  found  himself  a  prophet  among  those  of  his 
own  household,  while  his  titled  fellow-orator  cordially 
complimented  his  performance. 

At  New  Salem,  he   now  found   the  leisure  and  tho 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  29 

opportunity  to  initiate  a  system  of  self-education.  At 
last,  he  had  struggled  to  a  point,  where  he  could  not 
only  take  breath,  but  could  stoop  and  drink  from  those 
springs  of  knowledge,  which  a  hopeless  poverty,  inces- 
sant toil,  and  his  roving,  uncertain  life,  had,  till  then, 
forbidden  to  his  lips. 

There  seems  never  to  have  been  any  doubt  of  his  abil- 
ity among  Lincoln's  acquaintances,  any  more  than  there 
was  a  doubt  of  his  honesty,  his  generosity,  and  gentle- 
heartedness.  When,  therefore,  he  began  to  make  rapid 
progress  in  his  intellectual  pursuits,  it  surprised  none 
of  them — least  of  all,  Lincoln's  shrewd  patron,  Offutt, 
who  had  been  known  to  declare,  with  pardonable  enthu- 
siasm, that  Lincoln  was  the  smartest  man  in  the  United 
States. 

The  first  branch  of  learning  which  he  took  up,  was 
English  grammar,  acquiring  that  science  from  the  old- 
fashioned  treatise  of  Kirkham.  The  book  was  not  to 
be  had  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  and  Lincoln  walked 
seven  or  eight  miles  to  borrow  a  copy.  He  then  devoted 
himself  to  the  study  with  the  whole  strength  of  his  reso- 
lute nature  ;  and  in  three  weeks  he  had  gained  a  fair 
practical  knowledge  of  the  grammar.  No  doubt  the 
thing  was  hard  to  the  uncultivated  mind,  though  that 
mind  was  of  great  depth  and  fertility.  One  of  his 
friends*  relates  that  Lincoln  used  to  take  him  aside,  and 
require  explanations  of  the  sententious  Kirkham,  when- 
ever he  visited  New  Salem. 

*In  M.  Grwn,  Es^,  of  Peferatrargb,  Illinc** 


30          LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

This  young  backwoodsman  had  the  stubborn  notion  that 
because  the  Lincolns  had  always  been  people  of  excel- 
lent sense,  he,  a  Lincoln,  might  become  a  person  of  dis- 
tinction. He  had  talked,  he  said,  with  men  who  were 
regarded  as  great,  and  he  did  not  see  where  they  differed 
so  much  from  others.  He  reasoned,  probably,  that 
the  secret  of  their  success  lay  in  the  fact  of  original 
capacity,  and  untiring  industry.  He  was  conscious  of 
his  own  powers ;  he  was  a  logician,  and  could  not  resist 
logical  conclusions.  If  he  studied,  why  might  not  he 
achieve  ? 

And  Kirkham  fell  before  him.  One  incident  of  his 
study,  was  a  dispute  with  the  learned  man  of  the  place, 
—a  very  savant  among  the  unlettered  pioneers — in  re- 
gard to  a  grammatical  nicety,  and  the  question  being 
referred  to  competent  authority,  it  was  decided  in  Lin- 
coln's favor,  to  his  pride  and  exultation. 

Concluding  his  grammatical  studies  with  Kirkham,  he 
next  turned  his  attention  to  mathematics,  and  took  up  a 
work  on  surveying,  with  which  he  made  himself  thor- 
oughly acquainted. 

So  great  was  his  ardor  in  study,  at  this  time,  that 
shrewd  suspicions  with  regard  to  Offutt's  clerk  got 
abroad ;  the  honest  neighbors  began  to  question  whether 
one  who  would  voluntarily  spend  all  his  leisure  in 

"poring  over  miserable  books," 


could  be  altogether. right  in  his  mind. 

The  peculiar  manner  in  which  he  afterward  pursued 


LIFE   AND  SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.         31 

his  law  studies,  was  not  calculated  to  allay  popular  feel- 
ing. He  bought  an  old  copy  of  Blackstone,  one  day,  at 
auction,  in  Springfield,  and  on  his  return  to  New  Salem, 
attacked  the  work  with  characteristic  energy. 

His  favorite  place  of  study  was  a  wooded  knoll  near 
New  Salem,  where  he  threw  himself  under  a  wide-spread- 
ing oak,  and  expansively  made  a  reading  desk  of  the 
hillside.  Here  he  would  pore  over  Blackstone  day  after 
day,  shifting  his  position  as  the  sun  rose  and  sank, 
so  as  to  keep  in  the  shade,  and  utterly  unconscious  of 
everything  but  the  principles  of  common  law.  People 
went  by,  and  he  took  no  account  of  them  ;  the  saluta- 
tions of  acquaintances  were  returned  with  silence,  or  a 
vacant  stare;  and  altogether  the  manner  of  the  absorbed 
student  was  not  unlike  that  of  one  distraught. 

Since  that  day,  his  habits  of  study  have  changed  some- 
what, but  his  ardor  remains  unabated,  and  he  is  now  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  best  informed,  as  he  is  certainly  the 
ablest,  man  in  Illinois. 

When  practicing  law,  before  his  election  to  Congress, 
a  copy  of  Burns  was  his  inseparable  companion  on  the 
circuit ;  and  this  he  perused  so  constantly,  that  it  is  said 
he  has  now  by  heart  every  line  of  his  favorite  poet.  He 
is  also  a  diligent  student  of  Shakspeare,  "to  know  whom 
is  a  liberal  education/' 

The  bent  of  his  mind,  however,  is  mathematical  and 
metaphysical,  and  he  is  therefore  pleased  with  the  abso- 
lute and  logical  method  of  Poe's  tales  and  sketches,  in 
which  the  problem  of  mystery  is  given,  and  wrought  out 


32  LIFE  AND   SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

into  every-day  facts  by  processes  of  cunning  analysis.  It 
is  said  that  he  suffers  no  year  to  pass  without  the  perusal 
of  this  author. 

Books,  of  all  sorts,  the  eager  student  devoured  with  an 
insatiable  appetite;  and  newspapers  were  no  less  precious 
to  him.  The  first  publication  for  which  he  ever  sub- 
scribed, was  the  Louisville  Journal,  which  he  paid  for 
when  he  could  secure  the  intellectual  luxury  only  at 
the  expense  of  physical  comfort. 

It  was  a  day  of  great  rejoicing  with  Lincoln,  when 
President  Jackson  appointed  him  postmaster  at  New 
Salem.  He  was  a  Whig,  but  the  office  was  of  so  little 
pecuniary  significance,  that  it  was  bestowed  irrespective 
of  politics.  Lincoln,  indeed,  was  the  only  person  in 
the  community  whose  accomplishments  were  equal  to 
the  task  of  making  out  the  mail  returns  for  the  Depart- 
ment. 

An  acquaintance  says  that  the  Presidency  can  never 
make  our  candidate  happier  than  the  post-office  did 
then.  He  foresaw  unlimited  opportunities  for  reading 
newspapers,  and  of  satisfying  his  appetite  for  knowl- 
edge. 

But  it  was  not  through  reading  alone  that  Lincoln 
cultivated  his  intellect.  The  grave  and  practical  Ameri- 
can mind  has  always  found  entertainment  and  profit 
in  disputation,  and  the  debating  clubs  are  what  every 
American  youth  is  subject  to.  They  are  useful  in  many 
ways.  They  safely  vent  the  mental  exuberance  of 
youth ;  those  whom  destiny  intended  for  the  bar  and 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.          33 

the  Senate,  they  assist;  those  who  have  a  mistaken  voca- 
tion to  oratory,  they  mercifully  extinguish. 

Even  in  that  day,  and  that  rude  country,  where  learn- 
ing was  a  marvelous  and  fearful  exception,  the  debating 
school  flourished,  in  part  as  a  literary  institution,  and  in 
part  as  a  rustic  frolic. 

Lincoln  delighted  in  practicing  polemics,  as  it  was 
called,  and  used  to  walk  six  and  seven  miles  through 
the  woods  to  attend  the  disputations  in  his  neighbor- 
hood. Of  course,  many  of  the  debates  were  infinitely 
funny,  for  the  disputants  were,  frequently,  men  without 
education.  Here,  no  doubt,  Lincoln  stored  his  mind 
with  anecdote  and  comic  illustration,  while  he  delight- 
ed his  auditors  with  his  own  wit  and  reason,  and  added 
to  his  growing  popularity. 

This  popularity  had  been  early  founded  by  a  stroke  of 
firmness  and  bravery  on  Lincoln's  part,  when  he  first 
came  into  Sangamon  county. 

He  had  returned  from  that  famous  voyage  made  with 
Offutt's  impromptu  flat-boat  to  New  Orleans,  and  de- 
scending the  Sangamon  river,  had,  as  has  been  already 
related,  fixed  upon  the  little  village  of  New  Salem,*  by 
fortuity  rather  than  intention,  as  his  future  home. 
Nevertheless,  he  had  first  to  undergo  an  ordeal  to 
which  every  new  comer  was  subjected,  before  his  resi- 
dence could  be  generally  acknowledged.  Then,  when  it 
was  much  more  necessary  to  be  equal  parts  of  horse  and 

*Kear  Petersbnrgh. 


34         LIFE  AND   SPEECHES   OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

alligator,  and  to  be  able  to  vanquish  one's  weight  in 
•wild  cats,  than  now,  there  flourished,  in  the  region  of 
New  Salem,  a  band  of  jolly,  roystering  blades,  calling 
themselves  "  Clary's  Grove  Boys,"  who  not  only  gave 
the  law  to  the  neighborhood,  as  Regulators,  but  united 
judicial  to  legislative  functions,  by  establishing  them- 
selves a  tribunal  to  try  the  stuff  of  every  one  who  came 
into  that  region.  They  were,  at  once,  the  protectors  and 
the  scourge  of  the  whole  country-side,  and  must  have 
been  some  such  company  as  that  of  Brom  Bones,  in 
Sleepy  Hollow,  upon  whom  the  "  neighbors  all  looked 
with  a  mixture  of  awe,  admiration,  and  good-will." 
Their  mode  of  receiving  a  stranger  was  to  appoint  some 
one  of  their  number  to  wrestle  with  him,  fight  with  him, 
or  run  a  foot-race  with  him,  according  to  their  pleasure, 
and  his  appearance. 

As  soon  as  young  Lincoln  appeared,  the  "  Clary's 
Grove  Boys"  determined  to  signalize  their  prowess  anew 
by  a  triumph  over  a  stalwart  fellow,  who  stood  six  feet 
three  inches  without  stockings.  The  leader  and  cham- 
pion of  their  band,  (one  Jack  Armstrong,  who  seems 
himself  to  have  been  another  Brom  Bones,)  challenged 
Lincoln  to  a  wrestling-match.  When  the  encounter  took 
place,  the  "Clary's  Grove  Boy"  found  that  he  had  de- 
cidedly the  worst  half  of  the  affair,  and  the  bout  would 
have  ended  in  his  ignominious  defeat,  had  not  all  his 
fellow-boys  come  to  his  assistance.  Lincoln  then  refused 
to  continue  the  unequal  struggle.  He  would  wrestle 
with  them  fairly,  or  he  would  run  a  foot-race,  or  if  any 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.          35 

of  them  desired  to  fight,  he  generously  offered  to  thrash 
that  particular  individual.  He  looked  every  word  he 
said,  and  none  of  the  Boys  saw  fit  to  accept  his  offer. 
Jack  Armstrong  was  willing  to  call  the  affair  drawn  ; 
and  Lincoln's  fearless  conduct  had  already  won  the 
hearts  of  his  enemies.  He  was  invited  to  become  one 
of  their  company.  His  popularity  was  assured.  The 
Boys  idolized  him,  and  when  the  Black  Hawk  war  broke 
out,  he  was  chosen  their  captain,  and  remained  at  their 
head  throughout  the  campaign.  Their  favor  still  pur- 
sued him,  and,  two  years  afterward,  he  was  elected  to 
the  Legislature,  through  the  influence  created  by  his 
famous  wrestling-match. 

Many  of  the  Boys  are  now  distinguished  citizens  of 
Illinois,  and  are  among  Lincoln's  warmest  friends ; 
though  they  acknowledge  that  if  he  had  shown  signs 
of  cowardice  when  they  came  to  the  rescue  of  their 
champion,  it  would  have  fared  grievously  with  him. 

Indeed,  this  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  sig- 
nificant incidents  of  his  early  life.  It  gave  him  reputa- 
tion for  courage  necessary  in  a  new  country,  and  opened 
a  career  to  him  which  his  great  qualities  have  enabled 
him  to  pursue  with  brilliance  and  success.* 


*  Jack  Armstrong,  in  particular,  became  a  fast  friend  of  Lincoln.  It  is  rela- 
ted that  he  bestowed  a  terrible  pummeling  ou  a  person  who  once  ventured  to 
speak  slightingly  of  Lincoln  in  his  presence.  Afterward,  Lincoln  had  an 
opportunity  to  make  a  full  return  to  Armstrong  for  his  friendship.  A  man  had 
been  killed  in  a  riot  at  camp-meeting,  in  Menard  county,  and  suspicion  fell  upon 
a  sou  of  Jock  Armstrong — a  wild  young  scapegrace,  who  was  known  to  have 
taken  part  in  the  affair.  He  was  arrested,  and  brought  to  trial  for  murder.  Lia- 
coin,  who  teems  to  have  believed  firmly  in  the  young  man's  innocence,  volun- 


CHAPTER  III. 

IN  1832,  Black  Hawk's  war  broke  out.  In  the  light  of 
history,  this  war  seems  to  have  been  a  struggle  involun- 
tarily commenced  by  the  Indians  against  the  white  set- 
tlers. A  treaty  had  been  made  by  the  Sacs  and  Foxes, 
ceding  to  the  United  States  all  the  land  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi— a  treaty  which  the  Sac  chief,  Black  Hawk,  de- 
clared to  be  illegal.  A  war  with  the  Sacs  ensued,  which 
was  terminated  by  treaty  in  1825.  Meanwhile  Illinois  had 
been  admitted  to  the  Union,  and  the  country  had  filled  up 
with  whites,  who  extended  the  lines  of  their  settlements 
around  the  country  of  the  Indians,  and  pressed  closer 
and  closer  upon  them.  Outrages,  on  one  part  and  on 
the  other,  were  of  constant  occurrence;  and  in  revenge 
for  some  wrong,  a  party  of  Chippeway  Indians  fired  upon 
a  keel-boat  conveying  stores  to  Fort  Snelling.  Through 
mistake  or  injustice,  Black  Hawk  was  arrested  for  this, 
and  lay  imprisoned  a  whole  year  before  he  could  be 
brought  to  trial  and  acquitted.  After  his  release,  it 


teered  in  his  defense,  and  throwing  aside  the  well-connected  links  of  circum- 
stantial evidence  against  him,  made  a  most  touching  and  eloquent  appeal  to  the 
sympathies  of  the  jury.  There  was  that  confidence  in  Lincoln,  that  absolute 
faith,  that  he  would  never  say  anything  but  the  truth,  to  achieve  any  end,  that 
the  jury  listened  and  were  convinced.  Young  Armstrong  was  acquitted ;  and 
Lincoln  refused  tu  acfebpt  any  reward  for  bis  defense. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  37 

was  believed  that  he  engaged  in  negotiations  to  unite 
all  the  Indians,  from  Rock  River  to  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico, in  a  general  war  upon  the  whites.  The  alarm,  of 
course,  was  very  great,  and  active  preparations  for  hos- 
tilities were  made.  Regular  forces  were  marched  against 
the  Indians  at  Rock  Island,  and  large  bodies  of  militia 
were  called  into  the  field.  It  appears  that  Black  Hawk 
never  succeeded  in  rallying  about  him  more  than  two 
or  three  hundred  warriors  of  his  tribe  ;  the  Indians  being 
desirous  of  peace,  and  willing  to  abide  by  the  treaty 
of  the  chief  Keokuk,  who  favored  the  cession  of  land. 
Indeed,  Black  Hawk  himself  attempted  to  treat  with 
the  whites  several  times  when  he  met  them,  and  only 
fought  after  his  flags  of  truce  had  been  fired  upon.  The 
war  was  brought  to  a  close  by  the  battle  of  Bad-Ax, 
in  which  glorious  action  a  great  number  of  squaws  and 
papooses,  not  to  mention  several  warriors,  were  killed. 
The  Indians  then  retreated  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and 
Black  Hawk  was  brought  a  prisoner  into  the  camp  of 
the  whites.  He  made  the  grand  tour  of  the  Atlantic 
cities,  where  he  received  the  usual  attentions  bestowed 
upon  lions  of  every  tribe,  and  returning  to  the  West  a 
sadder  and  a  wiser  Indian,  passed  into  oblivion. 

There  can  not  be  any  doubt  that  the  war  was  a  very 
serious  matter  to  the  people  who  were  engaged  in  it; 
and  there  is  as  little  doubt  that  their  panic  exaggerated 
their  danger,  and  rendered  them  merciless  in  their  de- 
termination to  expel  the  Indians. 

Offutt's  business  had  long  been  failing,  and  at  the 


38  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

time  the  war  broke  out,  Lincoln  had  the  leisure,  as  well 
as  the  patriotism,  to  join  one  of  the  volunteer  companies 
which  was  formed  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  Salem. 
To  his  unbounded  surprise  and  satisfaction,  he  was 
chosen  captain  by  his  fellow-soldiers.  The  place  of 
rendezvous  was  at  Richland,  and  as  soon  as  the  mem- 
bers of  the  company  met,  the  election  took  place.  It 
was  expected  that  the  captaincy  would  be  conferred  on 
a  man  of  much  wealth  and  consequence  among  the 
people,  for  whom  Lincoln  had  once  worked.  He  was 
a  harsh  and  exacting  employer,  and  had  treated  the 
young  man,  whom  everybody  else  loved  and  esteemed, 
with  the  greatest  rigor;  a  course  which  had  not  increased 
his  popularity.  The  method  of  election  was  for  the 
candidates  to  step  out  of  the  ranks,  when  the  electors 
advanced  and  joined  the  man  whom  they  chose  to  lead 
them.  Three-fourths  of  the  company  at  once  went  to 
Lincoln ;  and  when  it  was  seen  how  strongly  the  tide 
was  set  in  his  favor,  the  friends  of  the  rival  candi- 
date deserted  him,  one  after  another,  until  he  was  left 
standing  almost  alone.  He  was  unspeakably  mortified 
and  disappointed,  while  Lincoln's  joy  was  proportionably 
great. 

The  latter  served  three  months  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war,  and  made  acquaintance  with  the  usual  campaign- 
ing experiences,  but  was  in  no  battle.  He  still  owns 
the  lands  in  Iowa  that  he  located  with  warrants  for  ser- 
vice performed  in  the  war. 

An  incident  of  the   campaign,  in  which   Lincoln   is 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  39 

concerned,*  illustrates  a  trait  of  his  character  no  less 
prominent  than  his  qualities  of  integrity  and  truth. 
One  day  an  old  Indian  wandered  into  Lincoln's  camp, 
"and  was  instantly  seized  by  his  men.  The  general 
opinion  was  that  he  ought  to  be  put  to  death.  They 
were  in  the  field  for  the  purpose  of  killing  Indians,  and 
to  spare  the  slaughter  of  one  that  Providence  had  de- 
livered into  their  hands  was  something  of  which  these 
honest  pioneers  could  not  abide  the  thought.  It  was 
to  little  purpose  that  the  wretched  aborigine  showed  a 
letter  signed  by  General  Cass,  and  certifying  him  to  be 
not  only  a  model  of  all  the  savage  virtues,  but  a  sincere 
friend  of  the  whites.  He  was  about  to  be  sacrificed, 
when  Lincoln  boldly  declared  that  the  sacrifice  should 
not  take  place.  He  was  at  once  accused  of  cowardice, 
and  of  a  desire  to  conciliate  the  Indians.  Nevertheless, 
he  stood  firm,  proclaiming  that  even  barbarians  would  not 
kill  a  helpless  prisoner.  If  any  one  thought  him  a  cow- 
ard, let  him  step  out  and  be  satisfied  of  his  mistake,  in 
any  way  he  chose.  As  to  this  poor  old  Indian,  he  had 
no  doubt  he  was  all  that  the  letter  of  General  Cass 
affirmed ;  he  declared  that  they  should  kill  him  before 
they  touched  the  prisoner.  His  argument,  in  fine,  was 
so  convincing,  and  his  manner  so  determined,  that  the 
copper-colored  ally  of  the  whites  was  suffered  to  go 
his  ways,  and  departed  out  of  the  hostile  camp  of  his 
friends  unhurt. 


*  The  authority  for  this  anecdote  is  Mr.  William  G,  Green,  a  tried  and  inti- 
mate friend  of  Lincoln  during  early  manhood. 


40          LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

After  his  return  from  the  wars,  Lincoln  determine!  to 
test  the  strength  of  his  popularity,  by  offering  himself 
as  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature.  Added  to  the  good, 
will  which  had  carried  him  into  the  captaincy,  he  had' 
achieved  a  warmer  place  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  had 
followed  Ms  fortunes  during  the  war,  by  his  bravery,  so- 
cial qualities,  and  uprightness.  He  was  warm-hearted  and 
good-natured,  and  told  his  stories,  of  which  he  had  num* 
bers,  in  better  style  than  any  other  man  in  the  camp.  No 
one  was  so  fleet  of  foot;  and  in  those  wrestlings  which 
daily  enlivened  the  tedium  of  camp  life,  he  was  never 
thrown  but  once,  and  then  by  a  man  of  superior  science 
who  was  not  his  equal  in  strength.  These  were  qualities 
which  commended  him  to  the  people,  and  made  him  the 
favorite  officer  of  the  battalion. 

Parties,  at  this  time,  were  distinguished  as  Adams 
parties  and  Jackson  parties,  and  in  Lincoln's  county  the 
Jackson  men  were  vastly  in  the  ascendant.  He  was  a 
stanch  Adams  man,  and,  being  comparatively  unknown 
in  the  remoter  parts  of  the  county,  was  defeated.  In  his 
own  neighborhood  the  vote  was  almost  unanimous  in  his 
favor;  though  he  had  only  arrived  from  the  war  and 
announced  himself  as  a  candidate  ten  days  before  the 
election.  Indeed,  he  received,  at  this  election,  one 
more  vote  in  his  precinct  than  both  of  the  rival  candi- 
dates for  Congress  together.* 


*  The  following  is  the  vote  taken  from  the  poll-book  in  Springfield :  For 
Congress — Jonathan  H.  Pugh,  179,  and  Joseph  Duncan,  97.  For  Legislature — 
Lincoln,  277. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  41 

Defeated,  but  far  from  dismayed,  Lincoln  once  more 
turned  his  attention  to  business.  He  was  still  poor,  for 
though  thrifty  enough,  he  never  could  withstand  the 
appeals  of  distress,  nor  sometimes  refuse  to  become 
security  for  those  who  asked  the  use  of  his  name.  His 
first  surveying  had  been  done  with  a  grape-vine  instead 
of  a  chain,  and  having  indorsed  a  note  which  was  not 
paid,  his  compass  was  seized  and  sold.  One  James  Short 
bought  it  and  returned  it  to  Lincoln.  The  surveyor  of 
Sangamon  county,  John  Calhoun,  (since  notorious  for 
his  candle-box  concealment  of  the  election  returns  in 
Kansas,)  deputed  to  Lincoln  that  part  of  the  county  in 
which  he  resided,  and  he  now  assumed  the  active  prac- 
tice of  surveying,  and  continued  to  live  upon  the  slen- 
der fees  of  his  office  until  1834,  when  he  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature  by  the  largest  vote  cast  for  any  candidate. 

Before  this  election  Lincoln  had  engaged  and  failed  in 
merchandising  on  his  own  account. 

It  is  supposed  that  it  was  at  New  Salem  that  Lincoln, 
while  a  "  clerk  "  in  Offutt's  store,  first  saw  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  and,  probably,  the  acquaintance  was  renewed 
during  Lincoln's  proprietorship  of  the  store  which  he 
afterward  bought  in  the  same  place.* 


*  Lincoln  expressly  stated,  in  reply  to  some  badinage  of  Douglas,  during  tV 
debates  of  1858,  that  he  never  kept  a  grocery  anywhere.  Out  West,  a  grocer* 
is  understood  to  be  a  place  where  the  chief  article  of  commerce  is  wbijky. 
Lincoln's  establishment  was,  in  the  Western  sense,  a  store;  that  is,  he  sold  tea, 
coffee,  sugar,  powder,  lead,  and  other  luxuries  and  necessaries  of  pioneer  exist- 
ence. Very  possibly  his  store  was  not  without  the  "elixir  of  life,"  with  which 
nearly  every tody  renewed  the  flower  of  youth  in  those  days  ;  though  this  is  not 
a  matter  of  a^>lute  history,  nor  perhaps  of  vita]  consequence. 

4 


42          LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

One  Reuben  Radford  was  Lincoln's  predecessor.  He 
had  fallen,  by  some  means,  into  disfavor  with  Clary's 
Grove  Boys,  who,  one  evening,  took  occasion  to  break  in 
the  windows  of  his  establishment.  Reuben  was  discour- 
aged. Perhaps  it  would  not  be  going  too  far  to  allude 
to  his  situation  as  discouraging.  At  any  rate,  he  told  a 
young  farmer,*  who  came  to  trade  with  him  the  next, 
day,  that  he  was  going  to  close  out  his  business.  What 
would  Mr.  Green  give  him  for  his  stock  ?  Mr.  Green 
looked  about  him  and  replied,  only  half  in  earnest,  Four 
hundred  dollars.  The  offer  was  instantly  accepted,  and 
the  business  transferred  to  Mr.  Green.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  Lincoln  chanced  to  come  in,  and  being  informed 
of  the  transaction,  proposed  that  he  and  Green  should 
invoice  the  stock,  and  see  how  much  he  had  made.  They 
found  that  it  was  worth  about  six  hundred  dollars,  and 
Lincoln  gave  Mr.  Green  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  dol- 
lars for  his  bargain,  while  Green  indorsed  the  notes  of 
Lincoln  and  one  Berry,  to  Radford  for  the  remaining 
four  hundred.  Berry  was  a  thriftless  soul,  it  seems,  and 
after  a  while  the  store  fell  into  a  chronic  decay,  and,  in 
the  idiom  of  the  region,  finally  winked  out. 

Lincoln  was  moneyless,  having  previously  invested 
his  whole  fortune  in  a  surveyor's  compass  and  books, 
and  Berry  was  uncertain.  Young  Green  was  compelled 
to  pay  the  notes  given  to  Radford.  He  afterward  re- 
moved to  Tennessee,  where  he  married,  and  was  living 


*  Mr.  W.  T.  Green,  now  one  of  the  most  influential  and  wealthy  men  of  his 
part  of  Illinois. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  43 

in  forgetfulness  of  his  transaction  with  Lincoln,  when 
he  one  day  received  a  letter  from  that  person,  stating 
he  was  now  able  to  pay  back  to  Green  the  amount  for 
which  he  had  indorsed.  Lincoln  was  by  this  time  in  the 
practice  of  the  law,  and  it  was  with  the  first  earnings  of 
his  profession,  that  he  discharged  this  debt,  principal 
and  interest. 

The  moral  need  not  be  insisted  on,  and  this  instance 
is  not  out  of  the  order  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  whole  life. 
That  the  old  neighbors  and  friends  of  such  a  man  should 
regard  him  with  an  affection  and  faith  little  short  of 
man-worship,  is  the  logical  result  of  a  life  singularly 
pure,  and  an  integrity  without  flaw. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

IT  is  seen  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  first  elected  to  a 
seat  in  the  Legislature,  in  1834,  in  the  face  of  the  un- 
popularity of  his  political  principles,  by  a  larger  vote 
than  that  given  to  any  other  candidate.  As  a  legislator 
he  served  his  constituents  so  well  that  he  was  three  times 
afterward  returned  to  his  place;  in  1836,  in  1838,  and 
in  1840.  He  then  terminated  his  legislative  career  by  a 
positive  refusal  to  be  again  a  candidate. 

The  period  embraced  by  the  eight  years  in  which 
Lincoln  represented  Sangamon  county,  was  one  of  the 
greatest  material  activity  in  Illinois.  So  early  as  1820, 
the  young  State  was  seized  with  the  "  generous  rage  " 
for  public  internal  improvements,  then  prevalent  in  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  and  in  its  sessions  for  a 
score  of  succeeding  years,  the  Legislature  was  occupied 
by  the  discussion  of  various  schemes  for  enhancing  the 
prosperity  of  the  State.  The  large  canal  uniting  the 
waters  of  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Illinois  river  was  com- 
pleted at  a  cost  of  more  than  eight  millions.  By  a 
Board  of  Commissioners  of  Public  Works,  specially  cre- 
ated, provisions  were  made  for  expensive  improvements 
of  the  rivers  Wabash,  Illinois,  Rock,  Kaskaskia,  and 
Little  Wabash,  and  the  great  Western  mail  route  from 

(44) 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.          45 

Vincennes  to  St.  Louis.  Under  the  charge  of  the  same 
Board,  six  railroads  connecting  principal  points  were 
projected,  and  appropriations  made  for  their  completion 
at  an  immense  outlay. 

One  effect  of  a  policy  so  wild  and  extravagant  was  to 
sink  the  State  in  debt.  Another  was  to  attract  vast 
immigration,  and  fill  up  her  broad  prairies  with  settlers. 
Individuals  were  ruined;  the  corporate  State  became 
embarrassed;  but  benefits  have  resulted  in  a  far  greater 
degree  than  could  have  been  hoped  when  the  crash  first 
came.  It  is  not  yet  time  to  estimate  the  ultimate  good 
to  be  derived  from  these  improvements,  though  the  im- 
mediate evil  has  been  tangible  enough. 

The  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  not  found  recorded 
in  favor  of  the  more  visionary  of  these  schemes ;  but  he 
has  always  favored  public  improvements,  and  his  voice 
was  for  whatever  project  seemed  feasible  and  practical. 
During  his  first  term  of  service,  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Public  Accounts  and  Expenditures.  He 
voted  for  a  bill  to  incorporate  agricultural  societies ;  for 
the  improvement  of  public  roads ;  for  the  incorporation 
of  various  institutions  of  learning ;  for  the  construction 
of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal ;  he  always  fostered 
the  interests  of  public  education,  and  favored  low  salaries 
for  public  officials.  In  whatever  pertained  to  the  local 
benefit  of  his  own  county,  he  was  active  and  careful; 
but  his  record  on  this  subject  is  of  little  interest  to  the 
general  reader. 

Lincoln's   voice  was  ever  for  measures  that  relieved 


46  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

the  struggling  poor  man  from  pecuniary  or  political 
difficulties;  he  had  himself  experienced  these  difficul- 
ties. He  therefore  supported  resolutions  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  property  qualification  in  franchise,  and  for 
the  granting  of  pre-emption  rights  to  settlers  on  the 
public  lands.  He  was  the  author  of  a  measure  permit- 
ting Revolutionary  pensioners  to  loan  their  pension 
money  without  taxation.  He  advocated  a  bill  exempting 
from  execution  Bibles,  school-books,  and  mechanics' 

tools. 

• 

His  first  recorded  vote  against  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
was  on  the  election  of  that  politician  to  the  Attorney- 
Generalship  by  the  Legislature. 

He  twice  voted  for  the  Whig  candidates  for  the  United 
States  Senate.  Otherwise  than  in  the  election  of  Sena- 
tors, State  Legislatures  were  not  then  occupied  with 
national  affairs,  and  it  is  difficult  to  find  anything  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  legislative  history  which  is  of  great  national 
interest.  There  were  no  exciting  questions,  and  Mr. 
Lincoln's  speeches  were  few  and  brief.*  He  was  twice 
the  candidate  (in  1838  and  1840)  of  the  Whig  minority 
for  Speaker  of  the  House. 

In  1836,  when  Lincoln  was  first  re-elected  to  the  Leg- 
islature, Sangamon  county,  then  of  greater  geographical 
mportance  than  now,  was  represented  by  nine  members, 


*  A  protest  from  Mr.  Lincoln  appears  on  the  journal  of  the  House,  in  regard 
to  some  resolutions  which  had  passed.  In  this  protest  he  pronounces  distinct! j 
against  slavery,  and  takes  the  first  public  step  toward  what  is  now  Republican 
doctrine. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.          47 

no  one  of  whom  was  less  than  six  feet  in  height — several 
of  them  considerably  exceeding  that  altitude.  This  im- 
mensity of  stature  attracted  attention,  and  the  Sanga- 
mon  members  were  at  once  nicknamed  The  Long-Nine, 
They  were  genial,  hearty-humored  fellows,  famous  whit- 
tiers,  and  distinguished  spinners  of  yarns.  They  all 
boarded  at  the  same  place,  and  being  of  gregarious 
habits,  spent  their  evenings  together.  Lincoln  was  the 
favorite  of  the  circle;  admired  for  his  gift  of  story- 
telling, and  highly  esteemed  for  his  excellent  qualities 
of  head  and  heart,  his  intellectual  shrewdness,  his  re- 
liability, his  good-nature,  and  generosity.  The  Illinois 
Legislature  then  held  its  sessions  at  Vandalia,  and  Lin- 
coln used  to  perform  his  journeys  between  New  Salem 
and  the  seat  of  government  on  foot,  though  the  remain- 
ing eight  of  the  Long-Nine  traveled  on  horseback. 

A  pleasant  story  connected  with  this  part  of  his  polit- 
'"cal  career  is  related  by  Hon.  John  D.  Stuart.  Lincoln 
and  Stuart  were  both  candidates  for  the  Legislature  in 
1834.  Stuart's  election  was  conceded,  while  that  of  Lin- 
coln was  thought  to  be  comparatively  uncertain.  The 
two  candidates  happened  to  be  present  together  at  a  back- 
woods frolic,  when  some  disaffected  of  Stuart's  party  took 
Lincoln  aside,  and  offered  to  withdraw  votes  enough 
from  Stuart  to  elect  him.  He  rejected  the  proposal,  and 
at  once  disclosed  the  scheme  to  Stuart,  declaring  that  he 
Would  not  make  such  a  bargain  for  any  office. 

It  is  by  such  manly  and  generous  acts  that  Lincoln 
has  endeared  himself  to  all  his  old  neighbors.  It  may 


48  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

be  said  of  him  without  extravagance  that  he  is  beloved 
of  all — even  by  those  against  whose  interests  he  has 
conscientiously  acted.  When  in  the  practice  of  the  law 
he  was  never  known  to  undertake  a  cause  which  he  be- 
lieved founded  in  wrong  and  injustice.  "  You  are  not 
strictly  in  the  right,"  he  said  to  a  person  who  once 
wished  him  to  bring  a  certain  suit,  and  who  now  tells 
the  story  with  profound  admiration.  "I  might  give 
the  other  parties  considerable  trouble,  and  perhaps  beat 
them  at  law,  but  there  would  be  no  justice  in  it.  I  am 
sorry — I  can  not  undertake  your  case."  "I  never  knew 
Lincoln  to  do  a  mean  act  in  his  life,"  said  Stuart,  the 
veteran  lawyer,  who  first  encouraged  Lincoln  to  adopt 
his  profession.  "  God  never  made  a  finer  man,"  ex- 
claimed the  old  backwoods-man,  Close,  when  applied  to 
for  reminiscences  of  Lincoln.  So  by  the  testimony  of 
all,  and  in  the  memory  of  every  one  who  has  known  him, 
Lincoln  is  a  pure,  candid,  and  upright  man,  unblem- 
ished by  those  vices  which  so  often  disfigure  greatness, 
utterly  incapable  of  falsehood,  and  without  one  base  or 
sordid  trait. 

During  the  Legislative  canvass  of  1834,  John  D. 
Stuart  advised  Lincoln  to  study  law,  and  after  the 
election  he  borrowed  some  of  Stuart's  books,  and  began 
to  read.  Other  warm  and  influential  friends,  (Wm.  But- 
ler, the  present  Treasurer  of  State  in  Illinois,  was  one 
of  these,)  came  to  Lincoln's  material  aid  and  encour- 
agement, and  assisted  him  to  retrieve  his  early  errors 
of  generosity.  With  the  support  of  these  friends — for 


LIFE    AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.         49 

Lincoln  is  a  man  who  could  receive  benefits  as  nobly 
as  he  conferred  them — and  the  slender  revenues  of  his 
surveyorship,  he  struggled  through  the  term  of  his  law 
studies,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1836.  Business 
flowed  in  upon  him,  and  quitting  New  Salem,  he  took 
up  his  residence  at  Springfield,  where  he  united  his  pro- 
fessional fortunes  with  those  of  Major  Stuart.  The  two 
old  friends  remained  in  partnership  until  Stuart's  elec- 
tion to  Congress,  by  which  time  Lincoln  had  elevated 
himself  to  a  position  among  the  first  lawyers  of  the  place. 
In  the  midst  of  affairs,  however,  he  never  relaxed  his 
habits  of  study;  taking  up,  one  by  one,  the  natural 
sciences,  and  thoroughly  acquainting  himself  with  the 
abstrusest  metaphysics.  He  remains  to  this  day  a  severe 
and  indefatigable  student — never  suffering  any  subject 
to  which  he  directs  his  attention,  to  pass  without  pro- 
found investigation. 
5 


CHAPTER  V. 

WE  now  find  Abraham  Lincoln  beginning  to  assume 
an  active  part  in  the  political  affairs  of  Illinois. 

He  is  known  to  the  Whigs  throughout  the  State,  and 
his  general  popularity  is  as  great  as  the  esteem  and  re- 
gard in  which  he  is  held  by  those  personally  acquainted 
with  him. 

The  talented  young  Whig  has  founded  his  reputation 
upon  qualities  that  make  every  man  proud  to  say  he  is 
the  friend  of  Lincoln. 

No  admirer,  who  speaks  in  his  praise,  must  pause  to 
conceal  a  stain  upon  his  good  name.  No  true  man 
falters  in  his  affection  at  the  remembrance  of  any  mean 
action  or  littleness  in  the  life  of  Lincoln. 

The  purity  of  his  reputation,  the  greatness  and  dignity 
of  his  ambition,  ennoble  every  incident  of  his  career,  and 
give  significance  to  all  the  events  of  his  past. 

It  is  true  that  simply  to  have  mauled  rails,  and  com- 
manded a  flat-boat,  is  not  to  have  performed  splendid 
actions.  But  the  fact  that  Lincoln  has  done  these  things, 
and  has  risen  above  them  by  his  own  force,  confers  a 
dignity  upon  them  ;  and  the  rustic  boy,  who  is  to  be 
President  in  1900,  may  well  be  consoled  and  encour- 
aged in  his  labors  when  he  recalls  these  incidents  in  the 

(50) 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.          51 

history  of  one  whose  future  once  wore  no  brighter  aspect 
than  his  own  wears  now. 

The  emigrant,  at  the  head  of  the  slow  oxen  that  drag 
his  household  gods  toward  the  setting  sun — toward  some 
Illinois  yet  further  west — will  take  heart  and  hope  when 
he  remembers  that  Lincoln  made  no  prouder  entrance 
into  the  State  of  which  he  is  now  the  first  citizen. 

The  young  student,  climbing  unaided  up  the  steep 
ascent — he  who  has  begun  the  journey  after  the  best 
hours  of  the  morning  are  lost  forever — shall  not  be 
without  encouragement  when  he  finds  the  footprints  of 
another  in  the  most  toilsome  windings  of  his  path. 

Lincoln's  future  success  or  unsuccess  can  affect  noth- 
ing in  the  past.  The  grandeur  of  his  triumph  over  all 
the  obstacles  of  fortune,  will  remain  the  same.  Office 
can  not  confer  honors  brighter  than  those  he  has  already 
achieved  ;  it  is  the  Presidency,  not  a  great  man,  that  13 
elevated,  if  such  be  chosen  chief  magistrate. 

"We  have  seen  that,  in  1842,  he  declines  re-election  to 
the  State  Legislature,  after  eight  years'  service  in  that 
body.  He  has  already  been  on  the  Harrison  electoral 
ticket,  and  has  distinguished  himself  in  the  famous  can- 
vass of  1840. 

But  it  is  not  as  a  politician  alone,  that  Lincoln  is 
heard  of  at  this  time.  After  Stuart's  election  to  Con- 
gress has  dissolved  their  connection,  Lincoln  forms  a 
partnership  with  Judge  Logan,  one  of  the  first  in  his 
profession  at  Springfield,  and  continues  the  practice  of 
the  law,  with  rising  repute. 


52          LIFE    AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

His  characteristics  as  an  advocate,  are  an  earnestness 
and  sincerity  of  manner,  and  a  directness,  conciseness, 
and  strength  of  style ;  he  appeals,  at  other  times,  to 
the  -weapons  of  good-humored  ridicule  as  ably  as  to 
the  heavier  arms  of  forensic  combat.  He  is  strongest 
in  civil  cases,  but  in  a  criminal  cause  that  enlists  his 
sympathy  he  is  also  great.  It  is  then  that  the  advocate's 
convictions,  presented  to  the  jury  in  terse  and  forcible, 
yet  eloquent  language,  sometimes  outweigh  the  charge 
of  the  judge.  Juries  listen  to  him,  and  concur  in  his 
arguments ;  for  his  known  truth  has  preceded  his  argu- 
ments, and  he  triumphs.  There  may  be  law  and  evi- 
dence against  him,  but  the  belief  that  Lincoln  is  right, 
nothing  can  shake  in  the  minds  of  those  who  know  the 
man. 

He  prepares  his  cases  with  infinite  care,  when  he  has 
nothing  but  technical  work  before  him.  The  smallest 
detail  of  the  affair  does  not  escape  him.  All  the  parts 
are  perfectly  fitted  together,  and  the  peculiar  powers  of 
his  keen,  analytic  mind  are  brought  into  full  play.  He 
has  not  the  quickness  which  characterizes  Douglas,  and 
which  is  so  useful  to  the  man  who  adventures  in  law 
or  politics.  But  he  is  sufficiently  alert,  and  recovers 
himself  in  time  to  achieve  success. 

Lincoln  does  not  grow  rich  at  the  law,  and  has  not 
grown  rich  to  this  day,  though  possessing  a  decent  com- 
petence, and  owing  no  man  anything.  Poor  men,  who 
have  the  misfortune  to  do  with  courts,  come  to  Lincoln, 
who  has  never  been"  known  to  exact  an  exorbitant  fee, 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  53 

and  whose  demands  are  always  proportioned  to  their 
poverty.  There  is  record  of  a  case  which  he  gained  for 
a  young  mechanic,  after  carrying  it  through  three  courts, 
and  of  his  refusal  to  receive  more  than  a  comparative 
trifle  in  return. 

Meantime,  in  the  year  1842,  Lincoln  married  a  wo- 
man worthy  to  be  the  companion  of  his  progress  toward 
honor  and  distinction.  Miss  Mary  Todd,  who  became 
his  wife,  is  the  daughter  of  Robert  Todd,  of  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  a  man  well  known  in  that  State,  and  for- 
merly the  clerk  of  the  lower  House  of  Congress.  At  the 
time  of  her  marriage,  Miss  Todd  was  the  belle  of  Spring- 
field society — accomplished  and  intellectual,  and  possess- 
ing all  the  social  graces  native  in  the  women  of  Ken- 
tucky,* 

If,  at  this  point  of  his  career,  Lincoln  looked  back 
over  his  past  life  with  proud  satisfaction,  his  feeling  was 
one  in  which  every  reader,  who  has  traced  his  history, 
must  sympathize. 

It  was  hardly  more  than  a  half-score  of  years  since 
he  had  entered  Illinois,  driving  an  ox-wagon,  laden  with 
the  "plunder"  of  a  backwoods  emigrant.  He  was  ut- 
terly unknown,  and  without  friends  who  could  advance 
him  in  any  way.  He  was  uneducated,  and  almost  un- 
lettered. 

In  ten  years  he  had  reversed  all  the  relations  of  hig 


*  Three  living  sons  are  the  children  of  this  marriage  ;  the  first  of  whom  was 
born  in  1843,  the  second  in  1850,  and  the  third  in  1S53.  Another  son,  who  was 
born  in  1846,  is  now  dtad. 


54  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

life.  No  man  had  now  more  friends  among  all  classes 
of  people.  No  man  among  bis  neighbors  had  a  wider 
intelligence,  or  more  eager  and  comprehensive  mind. 
No  man  of  his  age  stood  better  in  his  profession,  or  in 
politics.  No  one  was  in  a  fairer  road  to  happiness  and 
success.  And  all  this  had  been  accomplished  through 
his  own  exertion,  and  the  favor  which  his  many  noble 
traits  awakened  in  those  around  him. 

He  might  well  exult  in  view  of  all  that  had  been,  and 
all  that  was. 

But,  however  this  may  have  been,  Lincoln  did  not 
pause  to  exult.  He  exulted  in  full  career;  for  already 
the  great  battle  of  1844  was  approaching,  and  he  was  to 
take  a  prominent  part  in  the  contest.  Many  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Illinois  have  distinct  recollection  of  the  brilliant 
debates  which  he  conducted  with  Calhoun  and  Thomas, 
and  these  are  loth  to  concede  that  they  have  ever  been 
surpassed.  The  debaters  met  in  all  the  principal  cities 
and  towns  of  that  State,  and  afterward  carried  the  war 
into  Indiana. 

It  may  bo  supposed  that  the  fortunes  of  the  war  varied, 
but  there  are  popular  stories  related  of  these  encounters 
that  give  rather  amusing  results  of  one  of  Lincoln's  fre- 
quent successes. 

The  contest  turned  upon  the  annexation  of  Texas,  to 
•which  measure  Lincoln  was  opposed,  in  proportion  as 
he  loved  and  honored  Henry  Clay.  It  has  been  said 
that  no  man  ever  had  such  friends  as  Clay  possessed. 
It  may  be  said  that  he  never  possessed  a  friend  more 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.         55 

ardent,  attached,  and  faithful  than  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Throughout  that  disastrous  campaign  of  1844,  Lincoln 
was  a  zealous  and  indefatigable  soldier  in  the  Whig 
cause.  His  name  was  on  the  electoral  ticket  of  Illinois, 
and  he  shared  the  defeat  of  his  gallant  leader — a  defeat 
which  precipitated  the  Mexican  war,  with  its  attendant 
evils,  and  the  long  train  of  dissensions,  discords,  and 
pro-slavery  aggressions  which  have  followed. 

In  the  lull  which  comes  after  a  Presidential  battle, 
Lincoln,  while  mingling  in  State  politics,  devoted  him- 
self more  particularly  to  professional  affairs,  though  he 
continued  an  enemy  to  the  Mexican  war,  and  his  election 
to  Congress  in  1846,  took  place  in  full  view  of  this  en- 
mity. It  is  worthy  of  note,  in  this  connection,  that  he 
was  the  only  Whig  elected  in  Illinois  at  that  time. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  period  over  which  Lincoln's  Congressional  career 
extends,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  our  history. 

Mr.  Folk's  favorite  scheme  of  a  war  of  glory  and 
aggrandizement,  had  been  in  full  course  of  unsatisfactory 
experiment.  Our  little  army  in  Mexico  had  conquered  a 
peace  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The  battles  of  Palo  Alto, 
Keseca  de  la  Palma,  Monterey,  Buena  Vista,  Cerro  Gordo, 
and  the  rest,  had  been  fought  to  the  triumph  and  honor 
of  the  American  arms.  Everywhere,  the  people  had  re- 
garded these  successes  with  patriotic  pride.  They  had 
felt  a  yet  deeper  interest  in  them  because  the  volunteer 
system  had  taken  the  war  out  of  the  hands  of  mercena- 
ries, and  made  it,  in  some  sort,  the  crusade  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization  and  vigor  against  the  semi-barbarism 
and  effeteness  of  the  Mexican  and  Spanish  races. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  popular  character  thus  given 
to  the  army,  the  war  itself  had  not  increased  in  popu- 
larity. People,  in  their  sober  second  thought,  rejected 
the  specious  creed,  "  Our  country,  right  or  wrong,"  and 
many  looked  forward  earnestly  and  anxiously  to  a  con- 
clusion of  hostilities.- 

The  elections  of  Congressmen  had  taken  place,  and  in 
(56) 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  57 

the  Thirtieth  Congress,  which  assembled  on  the  6th  of 
December,  1847,  the  people,  by  a  majority  of  seven 
Whigs  in  the  House,  pronounced  against  the  war, 
though  hardly  more  than  a  year  had  elapsed  since  their 
Representatives,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  to  fourteen,  had  declared  war  to  exist  through  the 
act  of  Mexico. 

In  those  days,  great  men  shaped  the  destinies  of  the 
nation.  In  the  Senate  sat  Clay,  Calhoun,  Benton,  Web- 
ster, Corwin.  In  the  House  were  Palfrey,  Winthrop, 
Wilmot,  Giddings,  Adams. 

The  new  member  from  Illinois,  who  had  distinguished 
himself  in  1844:  as  the  friend  of  Clay  and  the  enemy 
of  Texan  annexation,  took  his  seat  among  these  great 
men  as  a  representative  of  the  purest  Whig  principles ; 
he  was  opposed  to  the  war,  as  Corwin  was;  he  was  anti- 
slavery,  as  Clay  was ;  he  favored  internal  improvements, 
as  all  the  great  Whigs  did. 

And  as  Abraham  Lincoln  never  sat  astride  of  any 
fence,  unless  in  his  rail-splitting  days ;  as  water  was 
never  carried  on  both  of  his  square  shoulders;  as  his 
prayers  to  Heaven  have  never  been  made  with  reference 
to  a  compromise  with  other  powers;  so,  throughout  his 
Congressional  career,  you  find  him  the  bold  advocate  of 
the  principles  which  he  believed  to  be  right.  He  never 
dodged  a  vote.  He  never  minced  matters  with  his  oppo- 
nents. He  had  not  been  fifteen  days  in  the  House  when 
he  made  known  what  manner  of  man  he  was. 

On  the  22d  of  December  he  offered  a  series  of  reso- 


58  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

lutions,*  making  the  most  damaging  inquiries  of  the 
President,  as  to  the  verity  of  certain  statements  in  his 
messages  of  May  and  December.  Mr.  Polk  had  repre- 
sented that  the  Mexicans  were  the  first  aggressors  in  the 


*  Tho  following  are  the  resolutions,  which  it  is  judged  best  to  print  here  in 
full: 

"Whereas,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  his  Message  of  May  11, 
1846,  has  declared  that  '  the  Mexican  government  refused  to  receive  him,  [the 
envoy  of  the  United  States,]  or  listen  to  his  propositions,  but,  after  a  long-con- 
tinued series  of  menaces,  have  at  last  invaded  our  territory,  and  shed  the  blood  of 
our  fellow-citizens  on  our  own  soil.'1 

"And  again,  in  his  Message  of  December  S,  1840,  that  'we  had  ample  cause  of 
•war  against  Mexico  long  before  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities;  but  even  then 
we  forbore  to  take  redress  into  our  own  hands,  until  Mexico  basely  became  the 
aggressor,  by  invading  our  soil  in  hostile  array,  and  shedding  the  blood  of  our 
citizens.' 

"And  yet  again,  in  his  Message  of  December  7,  1847,  'The  Mexican  govern- 
ment refused  even  to  hear  the  terms  of  adjustment  which  he  (our  minister  of 
peace)  was  authorized  to  propose,  and  finally,  under  wholly  unjustifiable  pre- 
texts, involved  the  two  countries  in  war,  by  invading  the  territory  of  the  State 
of  Texas,  striking  the  first  blow,  and  shedding  the  blood  of  our  citizens  on  our 
own  soil.'1 

"  And  whereas  this  House  is  desirous  to  obtain  a  full  knowledge  of  all  the 
facts  which  go  to  establish  whether  the  particular  spot  on  which  the  blood  of 
our  citizens  was  so  shed,  was,  or  was  not,  at  that  time,  our  own  soil.  Therefore, 

"  Resolved,  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  That  the  President  of  the  United 
States  be  respectfully  requested  to  inform  this  House — 

"  1st.  Whether  the  spot  on  which  the  blood  of  our  citizens  was  shed,  as  in  his 
memorial  declared,  was,  or  was  not  within  the  territory  of  Spain,  at  least,  after 
the  treaty  of  1819,  until  the  Mexican  revolution. 

"2d.  Whether  that  spot  is,  or  is  not  within  the  territory  which  was  wrested 
from  Spain  by  the  revolutionary  government  of  Mexico. 

"3d.  Whether  that  spot  is,  or  is  not  within  a  settlement  of  people,  which  set- 
tlement has  existed  ever  since  long  before  the  Texas  Revolution,  and  until  ita 
inhabitants  fled  before  the  approach  of  the  United  States  army. 

"  4th.  Whether  that  settlement  is,  or  is  not  isolated  from  any  and  all  other 
settlements  of  the  Gulf  and  the  Rio  Grande  on  the  south  and  west,  and  of  wide 
uninhabited  regions  on  the  north  and  east. 

"5th.  Whether  the  people  of  that  settlement,  or  a  majority  of  them,  have 
ever  submitted  themselves  to  the  government  or  laws  of  Texas,  or  of  the  United 
States,  of  consent  or  of  compulsion,  either  of  accepting  office  or  voting  at  elec- 
tions, or  paying  taxes,  or  serving  On  juries,  or  having  process  served  on  them 
or  in  any  other  way. 

"  6th.  Whether  the  people  of  that  settlement  did  or  did  not  flee  at  the  ap- 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  59 

existing  hostilities,  by  an  invasion  of  American  soil,  and 
an  effusion  of  American  blood,  after  rejecting  the  friend- 
ly overtures  made  by  this  country. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  resolutions  demanded  to  know  whether 
the  spot  on  which  American  blood  had  been  shed,  was 
not  Mexican,  or  at  least,  disputed  territory ;  whether  the 
Mexicans  who  shed  this  blood  had  not  been  driven  from 
their  homes  by  the  approach  of  our  arms ;  whether  the 
Americans  killed  were  not  armed  soldiers  sent  into 
Mexican  territory,  by  order  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 

Parliamentary  strategy  defeated  the  proposed  inquiry, 
the  resolutions  going  over  under  the  rules. 

On  the  12th  of  January,  Mr.  Lincoln  made  a  speech* 
on  the  reference  of  different  parts  of  the  President's 
message.  In  this  speech  he  justified  a  previous  vote  of 
sentiment,  declaring  that  the- war  had  been  "unnecessa- 
rily and  unconstitutionally  commenced  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States."  That  vote  had  been  pressed 
upon  the  opposition  of  the  House,  by  the  President's 


preaching  of  the  United  States  army,  leaving  unprotected  their  homes  and  their 
growing  crops  before  the  blood  was  shed,  as  in  the  message  stated;  and  whether 
the  first  blood  so  shed  was,  or  was  not  shed  within  the  inclosnre  of  oue  of  the 
people  who  had  thus  fled  from  it. 

"7th.  Whether  our  citizens  whose  blood  was  shed,  as  in  his  message  declared, 
were,  or  were  not,  at  that  time,  armed  officers  and  soldiers  sent  into  that  settle- 
ment by  the  military  order  of  the  President,  through  tho  Secretary  of  War. 

"8th.  Whether  the  military  force  of  the  United  States  was,  or  was  not  so  sent 
Into  that  settlement  after  General  Taylor  had  more  than  once  intimated  to  the 
War  Department  that,  in  his  opinion,  no  such  movement  was  necessary  to  the 
defense  or  protection  of  Texas." — Congressional  Globe,  vol.  xviii,  1st  session,  30tJ 
Congress,  page  04. 

*  Globe  Appendix,  vol,  xlx,  page  93. 


60          LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

friends,  in  order  to  force  an  expression  of  opinion  which 
should  seem  unjust  to  that  functionary.  Discussing 
this  point,  Mr.  Lincoln  coolly  argued  to  conclusions 
the  most  injurious  to  the  administration;  showing  that 
even  though  the  President  had  attempted  to  construe  a 
vote  of  supplies  for  the  army  into  a  vote  applauding  his 
official  course,  the  opposition  had  remained  silent,  until 
Mr.  Folk's  friends  forced  this  matter  upon  them.  Mr. 
Lincoln  then  took  up  the  arguments  of  the  President's 
message,  one  by  one,  and  exposed  their  fallacy  ;  and  fol- 
lowing the  line  of  inquiry  marked  out  by  his  resolutions 
of  December,  proved  that  the  first  American  blood  shed 
by  Mexicans,  was  in  retaliation  for  injuries  received  from 
us,  and  that  hostilities  had  commenced  on  Mexican  soil. 
The  speech  was  characterized  by  all  the  excellences  of 
Lincoln's  later  style — boldness,  trenchant  logic,  and  dry 
humor. 

He  next  appears  in  the  debates,*  as  briefly  advocating 
a  measure  to  give  bounty  lands  to  the  surviving  volun- 
teer soldiers  of  the  war  of  1812,  and  arguing  the  pro- 
priety of  permitting  all  soldiers  holding  land  warrants, 
to  locate  their  lands  in  different  parcels,  instead  of  re- 
quiring the  location  to  be  made  in  one  body. 

As  Lincoln  is  a  man  who  never  talks  unless  he  has 
something  particular  to  say,  (rare  and  inestimable  vir- 
tue !)  a  period  of  some  three  months  elapsed  before  he 
made  another  speech  in  Congress.  On  the  20th  of  June, 

Globe,  vol.  xviii,  page  550. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  Gl 

1848,  the  Civil  and  Diplomatic  Appropriation  bill  being 
under  consideration,  he  addressed  to  the  House  and 
the  country,  a  clear  and  solid  argument  in  favor  of  the 
improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors.*  As  a  "Western 
man,  and  as  a  man  whom  his  own  boating  experiences 
had  furnished  with  actual  knowledge  of  the  perils  of 
snags  and  sawyers,  he  had  always  been  in  favor  of  a 
measure  which  commended  itself  at  once  to  the  heart 
and  the  pocket  of  the  West.  As  the  representative  of  a 
State  with  many  hundred  miles  of  Mississippi  river,  and 
vast  river  interests,  he  argued  to  show  that  an  enlight- 
ened system  of  internal  improvements,  must  be  of  na- 
tional as  well  as  local  benefit.f  The  prevailing  Demo- 
cratic errors  on  this  subject,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  succinctly 
stated  them,  were  as  follows  : 

"  That  internal  improvements  ought  not  to  be  made 
by  the  General  Government: 

"  1.  Because  they  would  overwhelm  the  Treasury. 

"  2.  Because,  while  their  burdens  would  be  general, 
their  benefits  would  be  local  and  partial,  involving  an 
obnoxious  inequality  ;  and, 

"3.  Because  they  would  be  unconstitutional. 

"4.  Because  the  States  may  do  enough  by  the  levy 
and  collection  of  tonnage  duties ;  or,  if  not, 

"  5.  That  the  Constitution  may  be  amended. 


Globe  Appendix,  vol.  xix,  page  709. 

|  This  speech  will  be  found  printed  at  length  in  the  appendix  to  the  present 
biography. 


(52          LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

'The  sum,"  said  Lincoln,  "of  these  positions  is,  Do 
nothing  at  all,  lest  you  do  something  wrong." 

He  then  proceeded  to  assail  each  of  the  positions, 
demolishing  them  one  after  another.  That  admirable 
simplicity  of  diction  which  dashes  straight  at  the  heart 
of  a  subject,  and  that  singular  good  sense  which  teaches 
a  man  to  stop  when  he  is  done,  are  no  less  the  charac- 
teristics of  this  effort  than  of  all  the  other  speeches  of 
Mr.  Lincoln. 

Of  a  different  manner,  but  illustrating  a  phase  of  his 
mind  equally  marked,  is  the  speech  he  made  in  the 
House  on  the  27th  of  July,*  when  he  discussed  the 
political  questions  of  the  day  with  reference  to  the  Pres- 
idential contest  between  General  Taylor  and  Mr.  Cass. 
It  abounds  in  broad  ridicule  and  broad  drollery — the 
most  effective  and  the  most  good-natured.  Severe  and. 
sarcastic  enough,  when  treating  a  false  principle,  it 
seems  never  to  have  been  one  of  Lincoln's  traits  to 
indulge  in  bitter  personalities.  His  only  enemies,  there- 
fore, are  those  who  hate  his  principles. 

On  the  21st  of  December,  1848,  Mr.  Gott,  of  New 
York,  offered  a  resolution  in  the  House,  instructing 
the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia  to  report  a 
bill  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  in  that  District. 
There  were  men  in  Congress  then  who  had  not  forgot- 
ten the  traditions  of  the  Republican  fathers,  and  who 
were  indignant  that  slaves  should  be  bought  and  sold 

*  Globe  Appendix,  vol.  xix,  page  1041. 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.         63 

in  the  shadow  of  the  capital — that  the  slave-trader  should 
make  the  political  metropolis  of  the  Kepublic  a  depot 
on  the  line  of  his  abominable  traffic. 

As  soon  as  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Gott  was  read,  a  mo- 
tion was  made  to  lay  it  on  the  table,  which  was  lost  by 
a  vote  of  eighty-one  to  eighty-five.  A  hot  struggle  en- 
sued ;  but  the  resolution  was  adopted.  An  immediate 
attempt  to  reconsider  proved  ineffectual.  The  action 
upon  reconsideration  was  postponed  from  day  to  day, 
until  the  10th  of  January  following,  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
proposed  that  the  committee  should  be  instructed  to  re- 
port a  bill  forbidding  the  sale,  beyond  the  District  of 
Columbia,  of  any  slave  born  within  its  limits,  or  the 
removal  of  slaves  from  the  District,  except  such  servants 
as  were  in  attendance  upon  their  masters  temporarily 
residing  at  Washington;  establishing  an  apprenticeship 
of  twenty-one  years  for  all  slaves  born  within  the  District 
subsequent  to  the  year  1850;  providing  for  their  emanci- 
pation at  the  expiration  of  the  apprenticeship ;  authoriz- 
ing the  United  States  to  buy  and  emancipate  all  slaves 
within  the  District,  whose  owners  should  desire  to  set 
them  free  in  that  manner ;  finally  submitting  the  bill 
to  a  vote  of  the  citizens  of  the  District  for  approval. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  efforts  to  abolish  the  slave- 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  have  resulted  in  noth- 
ing.* The  wise,  humane,  and  temperate  measure  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  shared  the  fate  of  all  the  rest. 


*Mr.  Lincoln's  preposition  had  received  the  approval  of  Mayor  Seaton,  of 
Washington,  who  informed  him  that  it  would  meet  the  approbation  of  the 


64  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

Another  great  measure  of  the  Congress  in  which  Mr. 
Lincoln  figured,  was  the  Wilmot  Proviso — now  a  favor- 
ite Republican  measure — and  so  pervading,  with  its  dis- 
tinctive principle  (opposition  to  slavery  extension)  the 
whole  Republican  soul,  that,  whether  in  or  out  of  plat- 
forms, it  remains  the  life  and  strength  of  the  party.  To 
this  measure  Mr.  Lincoln  was  fully  committed.  Indeed, 
it  is  a  peculiarity  of  this  man,  that  he  has  always  acted 
decidedly  one  way  or  the  other.  He  thought  the  Mex- 
ican war  wrong.  He  opposed  it  with  his  whole  heart 
and  strength.  He  thought  the  Wilmot  Proviso  right, 
and  he  says  he  "  had  the  pleasure  of  voting  for  it,  in  one 
way  or  another,  about  forty  times'1 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  one  of  those  who  advocated  the 
nomination  of  General  Taylor,  in  the  National  Whig 
Convention  of  1848.  Returning  to  Illinois  after  the 
adjournment  of  Congress,  he  took  the  stump  for  his 
favorite  candidate,  and  was  active  throughout  that  fa- 
mous canvass.  In  1849,  he  retired  from  Congress,  firmly 
declining  re-nomination,  and  resumed  the  practice  of1 
his  profession. 

The  position  which  he  maintained  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  was  eminently  respectable.  His  name 
appears  oftener  in  the  ayes  and  noes,  than  in  the  de- 
bates; he  spoke  therefore  with  the  more  force  and  effect 
when  he  felt  called  upon  to  express  his  opinion. 


Beading  citizens.  Afterward,  Southern  Congressmen  visited  the  Mayor  and 
persuaded  him  to  withdraw  the  moral  support  given  to  the  measure.  When 
this  had  been  done,  the  chief  hope  of  success  was  destroyed,  and  the  bill,  of 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  notice,  was  never  introduced. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  65 

The  impression  that  his  Congressional  speeches  give 
you,  is  the  same  left  by  all  others  that  he  has  made. 
You  feel  that  he  has  not  argued  to  gain  a  point,  but  to 
show  the  truth ;  that  it  is  not  Lincoln  he  wishes  to  sus- 
tain, but  Lincoln's  principles. 
6 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PEACE  to  the  old  Whig  party,  which  is  dead  !  When 
a  man  has  ceased  to  live,  we  are  cheaply  magnanimous 
iu  the  exaltation  of  his  virtues,  and  we  repair  whatever 
wrong  we  did  him  when  alive  by  remorselessly  abusing 
every  one  who  hints  that  he  may  have  been  an  imper- 
ceptible trifle  lower  than  the  angels. 

It  is  with  such  post-mortem  greatness  of  soul  that 
the  leaders  of  the  Democracy  have  cherished  the  memory 
of  the  Whig  party,  and  gone  about  the  stump,  clad  in 
moral  sackcloth  and  craped  hats. 

If  you  will  believe  these  stricken  mourners,  virtue 
went  out  with  that  lamented  organization  ;  and  there  is 
but  one  true  man  unhanged  in  America,  and  he  is  a 
stoutish  giant,  somewhat  under  the  middle  size. 

In  speaking,  therefore,  of  the  Whig  party,  you  have 
first  to  avoid  offense  to  the  gentlemen  who  reviled  its 
great  men  in  their  lifetime,  and  who  have  a  fondness 
for  throwing  the  honored  dust  of  the  past  into  the  eyes 
of  the  present.  Then,  respect  is  due  to  the  feelings  of 
those  Republicans  who  abandoned  the  Whig  party  only 
after  the  last  consolations  of  religion  had  been  admin- 
istered, and  who  still  remember  it  with  sincere  regret. 

The  prejudices  of  another  class  of  our  friends  inusl 

(66) 


LIFE   AND    SPEECHES    OF   ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.          67 

be  treated  with  decent  regard.  Very  many  old  Demo- 
crats in  the  Republican  ranks  are  earnestly  persuaded 
that  in  former  times  they  were  right  in  their  opposition 
to  the  Whigs. 

Yet  one  more  variety  of  opinion  must  be  consulted — 
the  opinion  that  the  Whig  party  had  survived  its  useful- 
ness, and  that  all  which  was  good  in  it  has  now  entered 
upon  a  higher  and  purer  state  of  existence  in  the  Re- 
publican organization. 

Doubtless  it  would  be  better  not  to  mention  the  Whig 
party  at  all.  Unfortunately  for  the  ends  of  strict  pru- 
dence, the  story  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  involves 
allusion  to  it,  since  he  was  once  a  Whig,  and  became  a 
Republican,  and  not  a  Democrat.  But  as  every  Repub- 
lican is  a  code  of  by-laws  unto  himself — subject  only  to 
the  Chicago  platform — perhaps  we  may  venture  to  rever- 
ently speak  of  the  shade  which  still,  it  is  said,  revisits 
the  glimpses  of  Boston ;  and  to  recount  the  events  which 
preceded  its  becoming  a  shade. 

So  early  as  1848  the  dismemberment  of  the  Whig 
party  commenced.  It  had  been  distinguished  by  many 
of  the  characteristics  of  the  Republican  party,  among 
which  is  the  reserved  right  of  each  member  of  the  or- 
ganization to  think  and  act  for  himself,  on  his  own 
responsibility,  as  already  intimated.  Whenever  its  lead- 
ers deflected  from  the  straight  line  of  principle,  their 
followers  called  them  to  account;  and  a  persistence  in 
the  advocacy  of  measures  repugnant  to  the  individual 
sense  of  right,  caused  disaffection. 


68         LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

Many  sincere  and  earnest  men,  who  supported  Henry 
Clay  with  ardor,  ceased  to  be  Whigs  when  General  Tay- 
lor was  nominated,  because  they  conceived  that  his  nom- 
ination was  a  departure  from  the  Clay  Whig  principles 
of  opposition  to  the  Mexican  war  and  the  acquisition  of 
slave  territory. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  pronounce  upon  the  wisdom 
or  justice  of  their  course.  Others,  as  sincere  and  earnest 
as  they,  supported  General  Taylor,  and  continued  to  act 
with  the  Whig  party  throughout  the  Fillmore  adminis- 
tration. 

The  assimilation  of  the  two  great  parties  on  the  slav- 
ery question  in  1852,  widened  the  distance  between  the 
Whigs  and  the  Free  Boilers,  and  the  former  were,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  latter,  demoralized  before  the  election  in 
which  they  suffered  so  total  an  overthrow,  though  they 
continued  steadfast  in  their  devotion  to  the  Whig  name 
until  1854,  when  the  first  organization  of  the  Republi- 
cans took  place,  under  the  name  of  the  Anti-Nebraska 
party. 

The  Whig  Free  Soilers  were  eager  and  glad  to  frater- 
nize with  their  old  friends;  and  all  greeted  with  enthu- 
siasm the  vast  accessions  which  the  new  party  received 
from  the  men  who  had  given  spiritual  vitality  to  the 
Democracy. 

Those  members  of  both  the  old  parties,  who  wero 
particularly  sensible  to  the  attractions  of  office,  those 
whom  no  pro-slavery  aggression  could  render  supe- 
rior to  the  luxury  of  a  feeble  or  selfish  acquiescence, 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.          69 

also  coalesced,  and  now  constitute,  with  a  few  sincere 
political  reminiscences,  the  Democracy  of  the  North. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, Abraham  Lincoln  remained  a  Whig,  both  from 
conviction  and  affection. 

In  1848,  he  had  made  speeches  in  favor  of  the  election 
of  General  Taylor,  in  Maryland,  in  Massachusetts,  and 
in  Illinois.  In  his  own  Congressional  district,  where 
his  word  has  always  been  platform  enough,  the  success 
of  his  canvass  was  declared  by  a  majority  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred for  Taylor. 

After  his  retirement  from  Congress,  he  devoted  him- 
self, with  greater  earnestness  than  ever  before,  to  the 
duties  of  his  profession,  and  extended  his  business  and 
repute.  He  did  not  reappear  in  the  political  arena  until 
1852,  when  his  name  was  placed  on  the  Scott  electoral 
ticket. 

In  the  canvass  of  that  year,  so  disastrous  to  the  Whig 
party  throughout  the  country,  Lincoln  appeared  several 
times  before  the  people  of  his  State  as  the  advocate  of 
Scott's  claims  for  the  Presidency.  But  the  prospect  was 
everywhere  so  disheartening,  and  in  Illinois  the  cause 
was  so  utterly  desperate,  that  the  energies  of  the  Whigs 
were  paralyzed,  and  Lincoln  did  less  in  this  Presidential 
struggle  than  any  in  which  he  had  ever  engaged. 

During  that  lethargy  which  preceded  the  dissolution 
of  his  party,  re  had  almost  relinquished  political  aspir- 
ations. Successful  in  his  profession,  happy  in  his  home, 
secure  in  the  affection  of  his  neighbors,  with  books,  com- 


70  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

petence,  and  leisure — ambition  could  not  tempt  him.  It 
required  the  more  thrilling  voice  of  danger  to  freedom, 
to  call  the  veteran  of  so  many  good  fights  into  the  field. 
The  call  was  made. 

It  would  be  useless  to  recount  here  the  history  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  circumstances  attending 
the  violation  of  that  compact,  though  that  history  is 
properly  a  part  of  the  biography  of  every  public  man  in 
the  country.  Throughout  the  fierce  contest  which  pre- 
ceded the  repeal  of  the  Compromise,  and  the  storm  of 
indignation  which  followed  that  repeal,  the  whole  story 
was  brought  vividly  before  the  people,  and  can  not  now 
have  faded  from  their  recollection.  Those  to  whom  it 
is  yet  strange,  will  find  it  briefly  and  faithfully  related 
in  the  speech  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  made  in  reply  to 
Douglas,  at  Peoria,  in  October,  1854.* 


*  Printed  in  full  in  this  volume.  Douglas  and  Lincoln  had  previously  met  at 
Springfield,  where  the  latter  played  David  to  tha  abbreviated  Goliah  of  the  for- 
mer. The  following  spirited  sketch  of  the  scene  is  by  the  editor  of  the  Chicago 
Press  and  Tribune,  who  was  present : 

"  The  affair  came  off  on  the  fourth  day  of  October,  1854.  The  State  Fair 
had  been  in  progress  two  days,  and  the  capital  was  full  of  all  manner  of  men. 
The  Nebraska  bill  had  been  passed  on  the  previous  twenty-second  of  May.  Mr. 
Douglas  had  returned  to  Illinois  to  meet  an  outraged  constituency.  Ho  had 
made  a  fragmentary  speech  in  Chicago,  the  people  filling  up  each  hiatus  in  a 
peculiar  and  good-humored  way.  He  called  the  people  a  mob — they  called  him 
a  rowdy.  The 'mob'  had  the  best  of  it,  both  then  and  at  the  election  which 
succeeded.  The  notoriety  of  all  these  events  had  stirred  up  the  politics  of  the 
State  from  bottom  to  top.  Hundreds  of  politicians  had  met  at  Springfield,  ex- 
pecting a  tournament  of  an  unusual  character — Douglas,  Breese,  Koerner,  Lin- 
coln, Trumbull,  Matteson,  Yates,  Codding,  John  Calhoun,  (<f  the  order  of  the 
candle-box,)  John  M.  Palmer,  the  whole  house  of  the  Me'  onnells,  Singleton, 
(known  to  fame  in  the  Mormon  war,)  Thomas  L.  Harris,  mid  a  host  of  others. 
Several  speeches  were  made  before,  and  several  after,  the  passage  between  Lin- 
coln and  Douglas,  but  that  was  justly  held  to  be  tlte  event  of  the  season. 

«'  \V«  do  not  remember  whether  a  challenge  to  debate  passed  between  the 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  71 

The  people  were  glad  to  hear  the  voice  of  their 
favorite  once  more,  and  Lincoln's  canvass  of  Illinois  was 
most  triumphant.  The  legislative  elections  were  held, 
and  those  who  denounced  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  were  found  to  be  in  the  majority. 


friends  of  the  speakers  or  not,  but  there  was  a  perfectly  amicable  understanding 
between  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  that  the  former  should  speak  two  or  three  hours, 
and  the  latter  reply  in  just  as  little  or  as  much  time  as  he  chose.  Mr.  Lincoln 
took  the  stand  at  two  o'clock— a  large  crowd  in  attendance,  and  Mr.  Douglas 
seuted  on  a  small  platform  in  front  of  the  desk.  The  first  half  hour  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  speech  was  taken  up  with  compliments  to  his  distiugnished  friend 
Judge  Douglas,  and  dry  allusions  to  the  political  events  of  the  past  few  years. 
His  distinguished  friend,  Judge  Douglas,  had  taken  his  seat,  as  solemn  as  the 
Cock-Lane  ghost,  evidently  with  the  design  of  not  moving  a  muscle  till  it  came 
his  turn  to  speak.  The  laughter  provoked  by  Lincoln's  exordium,  however,  soon 
began  to  make  him  uneasy  ;  and  when  Mr.  L.  arrived  at  his  (Douglas's)  speech, 
pronouncing  the  Missouri  Compromise  '  a  sacred  thing,  which  no  ruthless  hand 
would  ever  be  reckless  enough  to  disturb,'  he  opened  his  lips  far  enough  to 
remark,  'A  first-rate  speech  !'  This  was  the  beginning  of  an  amusing  colloquy. 

" 'Yes,' continued  Mr.  Lincoln,  'so  affectionate  was  my  friend's  regard  for 
this  Compromise  line,  that  when  Texas  was  admitted  into  *he  Union,  and  it  was 
found  that  a  strip  extended  north  of  38°  3(/,  he  actually  introduced  a  Mil  extend- 
ing the  line  and  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  northern  edge  of  the  new  State.' 

"  'And  you  voted  against  the  bill,'  said  Douglas. 

"  '  Precisely  so,'  replied  Lincoln  ;  '  I  was  in  favor  of  running  the  line  a  great 
deal  deal  further  south.' 

"'About  this  time,'  the  speaker  continued,  '  my  distinguished  friend  intro- 
duced me  to  a  particular  friend  of  his,  one  David  Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania.' 
[Laughter.] 

"  '  I  thought,'  said  Douglas,  'you  would  find  him  congenial  company.' 

"  '  So  I  did,'  replied  Lincoln.  'I  had  the  pleasure  of  voting  for  his  proviso, 
in  one  way  !\nd  another,  about  forty  times.  It  was  a  Democratic  measure  then, 
I  believe.  At  any  rate,  General  Cass  scolded  honest  John  Davis,  of  Massachu- 
setts, soundly,  for  talking  away  the  last  hours  of  the  session,  so  that  he  (Cass) 
could  n't  crowd  it  through.  A  propos  of  General  Cass:  if  I  am  not  greatly  mis- 
taken, he  has  a  prior  claim  to  my  distinguished  friend,  to  the  authorship  of 
Popular  Sovereignty.  The  old  general  has  an  infirmity  for  writing  letters. 
Shortly  after  the  scolding  he  gave  John  Davis,  he  wrote  his  Nicholson  letter' — 

"  Douglas  (solemnly) — '  God  Almighty  placed  man  on  the  earth,  and  told  him 
to  choose  between  good  and  evil.  That  was  the  origin  of  the  Nebraska  bill !' 

"Lincoln — 'Well,  the  priority  of  invention  being  settled,  let  us  award  all 
credit  to  Judge  Douglas  for  being  the  first  to  discover  it.' 

"  It  would  be  impossible,  in  these  limits,  to  give  an  idea  of  the  strength  of 


72  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

The  election  of  a  United  States  Senator  took  place  the 
following  winter,  and  General  Shields  was  superseded. 
This  gentleman,  who,  listening  to  the  seductive  persua- 
sions of  his  voiceful  colleague,  was  said  to  have  voted  for 
the  repeal  of  the  Compromise  against  his  own  convictions, 
was  a  candidate  for  re-election.  On  the  part  of  the  op- 
position majority  there  were  two  candidates,  Lincoln  and 
Trumbull.  The  great  body  of  the  opposition  voted 
steadily  for  the  former  on  several  ballots ;  but  some 
Democrats  who  had  been  elected  on  the  anti-Nebraska 
issue,  continued  to  cast  their  votes  for  Trumbull. 

Lincoln  feared  that  this  dissension  might  result  in  the 
election  of  a  less  positive  man  than  Trumbull,  and  with 


Mr.  Lincoln's  argument.  We  deemed  it  by  fur  the  ablest  effort  of  the  campaign, 
from  whatever  source.  The  occasion  was  a  great  one,  and  the  speaker  was  every 
way  equal  to  it.  Tho  effect  produced  on  the  listeners  was  magnetic.  No  one 
who  was  present  will  ever  forget  the  power  aud  vehemence  of  the  following 
passage : 

"  My  distinguished  friend  says  it  is  an  insult  to  the  emigrants  to  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  to  suppose  they  are  not  able  to  govern  themselves.  We  must  not  slur 
over  an  argument  of  this  kind  because  it  happens  to  tickle  the  ear.  It  must  ba 
met  and  answered.  I  admit  that  the  emigrant  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  is  com- 
petent to  govern  himself,  but,'  the  speaker  rising  to  his  fullhight,  'I  deny  Iris  right 
to  govern  any  other  person  WITHOUT  THAT  PERSON'S  CONSENT.'  The  applause  which 
followed  this  triumphant  refutation  of  a  cunning  falsehood,  was  but  an  earnest 
of  the  victory  at  the  polls  which  followed  just  one  mouth  from  that  day. 

"  When  Mr.  Lincoln  had  concluded,  Mr.  Douglas  strode  hastily  to  the  stand. 
As  usual,  he  employed  ten  minutes  in  telling  how  grossly  he  had  been  abused. 
Recollecting  himself,  he  added,  'though  in  a  perfectly  courteous  manner'— 
abused  in  a  perfectly  courteous  manner  !  He  then  devoted  half  an  hour  to  show- 
ing that  it  was  indispensably  necessary  to  California  emigrants,  Santa  Fe  traders 
and  others,  to  have  organic  acts  provided  for  the  Territories  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska — that  being  precisely  the  point  which  nobody  disputed.  Having 
established  this  premise  to  his  satisfaction,  Mr.  Douglas  launched  forth  into  an 
argument  wholly  apart  from  the  positions  taken  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  had  about 
half  finished  at  six  o'clock,  when  an  adjournment  to  tea  was  effected.  The 
speaker  insisted  strenuously  upon  his  right  to  resume  in  the  evening,  but  we 
believe  the  second  part  of  that  speech  has  not  been  delivered  to  this  day. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  73 

his  usual  unselfishness,  appealed  to  his  friends  to  vote 
for  Trumbull,  adjuring  them  by  their  friendship  to  him 
to  make  this  concession  of  individual  preference.  His 
appeal  was  not  in  vain,  and  Trumbull  was  elected 
Senatoi. 

This,  however,  was  not  the  first  sacrifice  which  he  made 
to  conciliation  and  union.  The  anti-Nebraska  party  of 
the  same  year  offered  him  the  nomination  for  Governor; 
but  in  the  existing  state  of  organizations,  he  declined 
for  the  sake  of  the  cause  which  all  had  espoused.  It 
occurs  in  politics  that  a  force  which  suddenly  rallies 
about  a  principle,  may  be  disheartened  by  the  choice  of 
a  leader  whom  recent  animosities  have  rendered  obnox- 
ious. Lincoln,  as  a  Whig,  had  been  one  of  the  most 
decided  and  powerful  opponents  of  Democracy  in  Illi- 
nois. The  period  since  his  opposition  to  many  Demo- 
cratic members  of  the  anti-Nebraska  party  had  ceased 
was  very  brief,  and  old  feelings  of  antagonism  had  not 
died  away.  He  perceived  that  the  advancement  of  him- 
self might  impede  the  advancement  of  his  principles. 
Doubtless,  he  could  be  elected  Governor  of  Illinois,  but 
the  victory  which  bore  him  into  office  might  be  less 
brilliant  and  useful  than  that  which  could  be  achieved 
under  another.  He  therefore  withdrew  his  name, 
and  threw  his  influence  in  favor  of  Governor  Bissell, 
who  had  been  a  Democrat,  and  who  was  triumphantly 
elected. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Republican  party  had, 
as  yet,  no  definite  existence  in  Illinois.     The  anti-Ne- 
7 


74          LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

braska  party  was  the  temporary  name  of  the  Whigs, 
Democrats,  and  Free  Soilers,  who  opposed  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise.  It  is  true  that  a  Mass  State 
Convention,  with  a  view  to  forming  a  permanent  organi- 
zation, had  been  held  at  Springfield,  in  October ;  but 
many  anti-Nebraska  men,  who  still  adhered  to  old  names, 
had  not  taken  part  in  it.  The  following  resolutions 
were  adopted  at  this  Convention  : 

"1.  Resolved,  That  we  believe  this  truth  to  be  self-evident,  that 
when  parties  become  subversive  of  the  ends  for  which  they  are 
established,  or  incapable  of  restoring  the  Government  to  the  true 
principles  of  the  Constitution,  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  the  peo- 
ple to  dissolve  the  political  bands  by  which  they  may  have  been 
connected  therewith,  and  to  organize  new  parties  upon  such  prin- 
ciples and  with  such  views  as  the  circumstances  and  exigencies 
of  the  nation  may  demand. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  the  times  imperatively  demand  the  reorgan- 
ization of  parties,  and,  repudiating  all  previous  party  attach- 
ments, names,  and  predilections,  we  unite  ourselves  together  in 
defense  of  the  liberty  and  Constitution  of  the  country,  and  will 
hereafter  co-operate  as  the  Republican  party,  pledged  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  following  purposes:  To  bring  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Government  back  to  the  control  of  first  principles; 
to  restore  Nebraska  and  Kansas  to  the  position  of  free  territories; 
that,  as  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  vests  in  the  States, 
and  not  in  Congress,  the  power  to  legislate  for  the  extradition  of 
fugitives  from  labor,  to  repeal  and  entirely  abrogate  the  Fugitive 
Slave  law ;  to  restrict  slavery  to  those  states  in  which  it  exists ; 
to  prohibit  the  admission  of  any  more  slave  states  into  the  Union; 
to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia;  to  exclude  slavery 
from  all  the  territories  over  which  the  General  Government  has 
exclusive  jurisdiction;  and  to  resist  the  acquirement  of  any 
more  territories  unless  the  practice  of  slavery  therein  forever 
shall  have  been  prohibited.  ^ 

"  3.  Resolved,  That  in  furtherance  of  these  principles  we  will  use 
such,  Constitutional  and  lawful  means  as  shall  seem  best  adapted 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  75 

to  their  accomplishment,  and  that  we  will  support  no  man  for 
office,  under  the  General  or  State  Government,  who  is  not^positive- 
ly  and  fully  committed  to  the  support  of  these  principles,  and 
whose  personal  character  and  conduct  is  not  a  guarantee  that  he 
is  reliable,  and  who  shall  not  have  abjured  old  party  allegiance 
and  ties." 

In  the  course  of  the  first  debate  between  Douglas  and 
Lincoln,  which  was  held  at  Ottawa,  in  August,  1858, 
Douglas  read  these  resolutions,  declaring  that  Lincoln 
had  participated  in  the  Convention,  and  assisted  in  their 
adoption.  Lincoln  met  this  earliest  of  a  series  of  mis- 
representations with  prompt  denial,  and  proved  that 
he  was  not  a  member  of  the  Convention. 

The  actual  Republican  party  of  Illinois,  dates  its  form- 
ation from  a  period  somewhat  later;  and  Lincoln  was 
one  of  the  first  members  of  the  present  organization. 
Not  so  ultra,  probably,  as  the  indignant  men  who  framed 
the  resolutions  quoted,  he  was  quite  as  firmly  opposed  to 
slavery.  In  the  speech  from  which  he  read,  in  reply  to 
the  charge  of  Douglas,  he  gives  wfth  Wesleyan  point, 
the  reason  why  indifference  to  slavery  should  be  ab- 
horred : 

"  This  declared  indifference,  but,  as  I  must  think, 
covert  real  zeal  for  the  spread  of  slavery,  I  can  not  but 
hate.  I  hate  it  because  of  the  monstrous  injustice  of 
slavery  itself.  I  hate  it  because  it  deprives  our  repub- 
lican example  of  its  just  influence  in  the  world — enables 
the  enemies  of  free  institutions,  with  plausibility,  to 
taunt  us  as  hypocrites — causes  the  real  friends  of  free- 
dgm  to  doubt  our  sincerity,  and  especially  because  it 


76  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

forces  so  many  really  good  men  among  ourselves  into  an 
open  war  with  the  very  fundamental  principles  of  civil 
liberty — criticising  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  insisting  that  there  is  no  right  principle  of  action 
but  self-interest" 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

IN  the  Republican  National  Convention  of  1856,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  received  one  hundred  and  two  votes  for 
the  Vice-Presidential  nomination.  When  the  standard- 
bearers  of  the  party  had  been  selected,  he  took  his  rank 
in  the  army  of  freedom,  and  engaged  in  the  great  con- 
flict which  followed.  The  Republicans  showed  their 
appreciation  of  his  strength  and  ability  by  placing  him 
at  the  head  of  their  electoral  ticket  in  Illinois ;  and 
when  in  1858  it  was  determined  to  give  the  Senatorial 
question  the  form  of  a  popular  contest,  by  the  election 
of  a  Legislature  pledged  to  the  people,  for  or  against 
Douglas,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  chosen  without  dissent 
as  the  champion  of  his  party. 

Much  might  here  be  said  with  regard  to  his  eminent 
fitness  for  the  conduct  of  such  a  canvass ;  but  the  result 
of  the  election,  and  his  published  debates  with  Douglas, 
are  the  best  commentary  upon  his  qualifications. 

The  Republican  State  ticket  of  that  year  was  carried 
by  a  decisive  majority,  and  the  Legislature  was  lost  only 
through  the  unfair  manner  in  which  the  State  was  dis- 
tricted, and  which  threw  that  body  into  the  hands  of 
the  Democrats  in  spite  of  the  popular  will. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  allude  particularly  to  cir- 

(77) 


78  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

cumstances  connected  with  the  debates  between  Lincoln 
and  Douglas,  which  have  been  so  significant  in  their 
result,  and  which  have  practically  made  United  States 
Senators  in  Illinois  elective  by  the  people  instead  of 
the  Legislature. 

Lincoln's  first  great  speech  of  that  year  was  made  at 
Springfield,  on  the  17th  of  June,  before  the  State  Con- 
vention which  named  him  as  the  Republican  candidate 
for  Senator.  In  this  speech  he  preached  the  moral  con- 
flict, which  has  always  existed  and  always  must  exist 
between  the  principle  of  freedom  and  the  principle  of 
slavery;  noticed  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
the  Dred  Scott  decision,  and  the  revival  of  the  slave- 
trade;  and  with  masterly  effect  exhibited  the  secret  con- 
cert with  which  all  the  enemies  of  freedom  had  acted  in 
their  assaults  upon  our  liberties.  The  speaker  concluded 
with  these  memorable  words,  which  every  Republican 
should  keep  in  mind,  for  they  have  gathered  significance 
in  the  two  years  elapsed  since  their  utterance: 

"Our  cause,  then,  must  be  intrusted  to,  and  conducted 
by,  its  own  undoubted  friends — those  whose  hands  are 
free,  whose  hearts  are  in  the  work — who  do  care  for  the 
result.  Two  years  ago  the  Republicans  of  the  nation 
mustered  over  thirteen  hundred  thousand  strong.  We 
did  this  under  the  single  impulse  of  resistance  to  a  com- 
mon danger,  with  every  external  circumstance  against 
us.  Of  strange,  discordant,  and  even  hostile  elements, 
we  gathered  from  the  four  winds,  and  formed  and  fought 
the  battle  through,  under  the  constant  hot  fire  of  a  dis- 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.         79 

ciplined,  proud,  and  pampered  enemy.  Did  we  brave  all 
then,  to  falter  now? — now,  when  that  same  enemy  is 
wavering,  dissevered,  and  belligerent?  The  result  is 
not  doubtful.  We  shall  not  fail — if  we  stand  firm,  we 
sliaU  not  fail.  Wise  counsels  may  accelerate,  or  mis- 
takes delay  it,  but,  sooner  or  later,  the  victory  is  sure  to 
come." 

The  reply  made  by  Douglas  to  this  speech  was  on  the 
occasion  of  his  reception  at  Chicago  in  the  July  follow- 
ing. Lincoln  was  present,  and  spoke  in  the  same  city 
on  the  next  day.  Two  more  great  speeches  by  Doug- 
las, and  one  more  speech  by  Lincoln  were  made  before 
they  entered  the  lists  in  debate. 

In  one  of  those  speeches,  Douglas  found  occasion — 
for  he  was  then  addressing  Lincoln's  old  friends  at 
Springfield — to  pay  his  tribute  to  the  worth  and  great- 
ness of  his  opponent: 

"  You  all  know  that  I  am  an  amiable,  good-natured 
man,  and  I  take  great  pleasure  in  bearing  testimony  to 
the  fact  that  Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  kind-hearted,  amiable, 
good-natured  gentleman,  with  whom  no  man  has  a  right 
to  pick  a  quarrel,  even  if  he  wanted  one.  He  is  a  wor- 
thy gentleman.  I  have  known  him  for  twenty -five  years, 
and  there  is  no  better  citizen,  and  n*  kinder-hearted 
man.  He  is  a  fine  lawyer,  possesses  high  ability,  and 
there  is  no  objection  to  him,  except  the  monstrous  rev- 
olutionary doctrines  with  which  he  is  identified." 

On  the  24th  of  July,  Lincoln  wrote  to  Douglas  pro- 
posing the  debates  which  have  since  become  so  famous. 


80         LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

Douglas  made  answer  that  "  recent  events  had  interposed 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  an  arrangement,"  that  the 
Democratic  Central  Committee  had  already  made  appoint- 
ments for  him  at  different  places;  but  in  order  to  accom- 
modate Mr.  Lincoln,  he  would  meet  him  in  seven  of  the 
nine  Congressional  Districts  where  they  had  not  yet 
spoken.  He  expressed  surprise,  that  if  it  was  Lincoln's 
original  intention  to  propose  these  debates,  he  should 
have  waited  until  after  the  plan  of  the  campaign  had 
been  arranged  by  the  Democratic  Central  Committee, 
before  he  made  known  his  proposition. 

This  letter  was  also  written  on  the  24th  of  July.  On 
the  29th  Lincoln  replied,  from  Springfield : 

"  Protesting  that  your  insinuations  of  attempted  un- 
fairness on  my  part  are  unjust,  and  with  the  hope  that 
you  did  not  very  considerately  make  them,  I  proceed  to 
reply.  To  your  statement  that  *  It  has  been,  suggested, 
recently,  that  an  arrangement  had  been  made  to  bring 
out  a  third  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate,  who, 
with  yourself,  should  canvass  the  State  in  opposition  to 
me,'  etc.,*  I  can  only  say,  that  such  suggestion  must 


*  The  following  is  the  stat&ment,  in  Douglas's  letter,  alluded  to  by  Lincoln  : 
"Besides,  there  is  another  consideration  which  should  be  kept  in  mind.  It 
has  been  suggested,  recently,  that  an  arrangement  had  been  made  to  bring  out  a 
third  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate,  who,  with  yourself,  should  canvass 
the  State  in  opposition  to  me,  with  no  other  purpose  than  to  insure  my  defeat,  by 
dividing  the  Democratic  party  for  your  benefit.  If  I  should  make  this  arrange- 
ment with  you,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  this  other  candidate,  who  has  a 
common  object  with  you,  would  desire  to  become  a  party  to  it,  and  claim  the 
right  to  speak  from  the  same  stand  ;  so  that  he  and  you,  in  concert,  might  be 
able  tb  ta"ke  the  opening  and  dosing  speech  in  every  case." 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.          81 

have  been  made  by  yourself,  for  certainly  none  such  hag 
been  made  by  or  to  me,  or  otherwise,  to  my  knowledge. 
Surely,  you  did  not  deliberately  conclude,  as  you  insinu- 
ate, that  I  was  expecting  to  draw  you  into  an  arrange- 
ment of  terms,  to  be  agreed  on  by  yourself,  by  which 
a  third  candidate  and  myself,  '  in  concert,  might  be 
able  to  take  the  opening  and  closing  speech  in  every 
case/ 

"As  to  your  surprise  that  I  did  not  sooner  make  the 
proposal  to  divide  time  with  you,  I  can  only  say,  I  made 
it  as  soon  as  I  resolved  to  make  it.  I  did  not  know  but 
that  such  proposal  would  come  from  you ;  I  waited,  re- 
spectfully, to  see.  It  may  have  been  well  known  to  you 
that  you  went  to  Springfield  for  the  purpose  of  agreeing 
on  the  plan  of  campaign  ;  but  it  was  not  so  known  to 
me.  When  your  appointments  were  announced  in  the 
papers,  extending  only  to  the  21st  of  August,  I,  for  the 
first  time,  considered  it  certain  that  you  would  make  no 
proposal  to  me,  and  then  resolved  that,  if  my  friends 
concurred,  I  would  make  one  to  you.  As  soon  there- 
after as  I  could  see  and  consult  with  friends  satisfacto- 
rily, I  did  make  the  proposal.  It  did  not  occur  to  me 
that  the  proposed  arrangement  could  derange  your  plans 
after  the  latest  of  your  appointments  already  made. 
After  that,  there  was,  before  the  election,  largely  over 
two  months  of  clear  time. 

"  For  you  to  say  that  we  have  already  spoken  at  Chi- 
cago and  Springfield,  and  that  on  both  occasions  I  had 
the  concluding  speech,  is  hardly  a  fair  statement.  The 


82          LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

truth  rather  is  this  :  At  Chicago,  July  9th,  you  made 
a  carefully-prepared  conclusion  on  my  speech  of  June 
16th.  Twenty- four  hours  after,  I  made  a  hasty  conclu- 
sion on  yours  of  the  9th.  You  had  six  days  to  prepare, 
and  concluded  on  me  again  at  Bloomington  on  the  16th. 
Twenty-four  hours  after,  I  concluded  again  on  you  at 
Springfield.  In  the  mean  time,  you  had  made  another 
conclusion  on  me  at  Springfield,  which  I  did  not  hear, 
and  of  the  contents  of  which  I  knew  nothing  when  I 
spoke  ;  so  that  your  speech  made  in  daylight,  and  mine 
at  night,  of  the  17th,  at  Springfield,  were  both  made  in 
perfect  independence  of  each  other.  The  dates  of  mak- 
ing all  these  speeches  will  show,  I  think,  that  in  the 
matter  of  time  for  preparation,  the  advantage  has  all 
been  on  your  side ;  and  that  none  of  the  external  cir- 
cumstances have  stood  to  my  advantage." 

Lincoln  having  left  all  the  arrangements  of  time, 
place,  and  manner  of  debate  to  Douglas,  the  latter  made 
the  following  proposition,  which,  (although  it  allowed 
Douglas  four  openings  and  closes  to  Lincoln's  three,  and 
so  gave  considerable  advantage  to  him,)  Lincoln  prompt- 
ly accepted  : 

"BEMENT,  PIATT  Co.,  ILL.,  July  30,  1858. 
«  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  Your  letter,  dated  yesterday,  accepting  my  proposi- 
tion for  a  joint  discussion  at  one  prominent  point  in 
each  Congressional  District,  as  stated  in  my  previous 
letter,  wa?  received  this  morning. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  83 

"  The  times  and  places  designated  are  as  follows  : 

Ottawa,  La  Salle  county August  21st,  1858. 

Freeport,  Stephenson  county "  27th,  " 

Jonesboro,  Union  county September  loth,  " 

Charleston,  Coles  county "  18th,  " 

Galesburgh,  Knox  county October  7th,  " 

Quincy,  Adams  county «  13th,  " 

Alton,  Madison  count^ "  15th,  " 

"I  agree  to  your  suggestion  that  we  shall  alternately 
open  and  close  the  discussion.  I  will  speak  at  Ottawa 
one  hour,  you  can  reply,  occupying  an  hour  and  a  half, 
and  I  will  then  follow  for  half  an  hour.  At  Freeport, 
you  shall  open  the  discussion  and  speak  one  hour;  I  will 
follow  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  you  can  then  reply 
for  half  an  hour.  We  will  alternate  in  like  manner  in 
each  successive  place. 

"  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

«  S.  A.  DOUGLAS. 

"  Hox.  A.  LINCOLN,  Springfield,  HI." 

In  the  intervals  between  the  debates,  which  took  place 
as  arranged,  both  speakers  addressed  audiences  sepa- 
rately, and  the  work  on  both  sides  was  carried  on  with 
unflagging  energy. 

No  one,  it  seems  to  me,  can  read  these  debates  with- 
out admiration  of  Lincoln's  ability,  courage,  and  truth, 
while  the  impression  left  by  Douglas  is  that  of  a  great 
mind  bending  all  its  energies  to  a  purpose  beneath  it ; 
of  an  acute  logician  resorting  to  sophistry  when  meeting 
his  opponent's  arguments,  and  to  adroit  misrepresents- 


84          LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

tion  of  language  and  position,  when  assailing  his  opin- 
ions. 

The  questions  discussed  were  substantially  the  same 
that  are  at  issue  now.  The  spirit  of  pro-slavery  aggres- 
sion takes  many  forms,  but  in  nature  remains  unchanged. 
Lincoln  pursued  it  through  all  its  disguises,  and  ex- 
posed it  at  every  turn.  The  subtlest  and  most  audacious 
champion  of  slavery  that  had  ever  proved  false  to  free- 
dom, was  not  equal  to  the  conflict.  As  the  pretended 
advocate  of  the  right  of  every  man  to  govern  himself 
and  regulate  his  own  affairs,  Douglas  was  full  of  words. 
When  a  flash  of  truth  showed  him  the  real  advocate  of 
one  man's  right  to  enslave  another,  he  was  dumb.  The 
banner  of  popular  sovereignty  smote  pleasantly  upon  the 
sight.  When  Lincoln  reversed  it,  and  men  read  the 
true  inscription,  they  saw  that  it  was  the  signal  of  dis- 
cord, oppression,  and  violence.  There  were  old  stains 
upon  that  gay  piece  of  bunting ;  stains  of  blood  from 
the  cabin  hearths  of  Kansas,  and  from  the  marble  floor 
of  the  Senate  hall ;  and  a  marvelous  ill-odor  of  cruelty 
hung  about  it,  as  if  it  were,  in  fact,  no  better  than  the 
flag  of  a  slave-ship.  Where  its  shadow  fell  across  the 
future  of  a  State,  civilization  and  humanity  seemed  to 
shrink  back,  and  a  race  of  bondmen  and  their  masters 
thinly  peopled  a  barren  land  that  would  have  "  laughed 
in  harvests"  in  the  light  of  freedom. 

The  Douglas  dogma  never  has  been  so  thoroughly 
refuted,  as  by  Lincoln's  speeches  in  those  debates;  and 
Douglas  himself  never  suffered  such  entire  defeat,  in  the 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.          85 

eyes  of  the  country.  The  truth  gave  the  victory  to 
Lincoln ;  a  trick  bestowed  the  Senatorship  upon  Doug- 
las. 

In  May,  1859,  when  the  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  Massachusetts,  extending  the  term  of  naturaliza- 
tion, aroused  the  apprehensions  of  many  German  Re- 
publicans, Dr.  Theodor  Canisius,  a  German  citizen  of 
Illinois,  addressed  a  letter  to  Lincoln,  asking  his  opinion 
of  the  amendment,  and  inquiring  whether  he  favored  a 
fusion  of  the  Republicans  with  the  other  elements  of 
opposition  in  1860.  Writing  from  Springfield,  Lincoln 
replies : 

"Massachusetts  is  a  sovereign  and  independent  State, 
and  I  have  no  right  to  advise  her  in  her  policy.  Yet, 
if  any  one  is  desirous  to  draw  a  conclusion  as  to  what  I 
would  do  from  what  she  has  done,  I  may  speak  without 
impropriety.  I  say,  then,  that  so  far  as  I  understand 
the  Massachusetts  provision,  I  am  against  its  adoption, 
not  only  in  Illinois,  but  in  every  other  place  in  which 
I  have  the  right  to  oppose  it.  As  I  understand  the 
spirit  of  our  institutions,  it  is  designed  to  promote  the 
elevation  of  men.  I  am,  therefore,  hostile  to  anything 
that  tends  to  their  debasement.  It  is  well  known  that 
I  deplore  the  oppressed  condition  of  the  blacks,  and  it 
would,  therefore,  be  very  inconsistent  for  me  to  look 
with  approval  upon  any  measure  that  infringes  upon  the 
inalienable  rights  of  white  men,  whether  or  not  they  are 
born  in  another  land  or  speak  a  different  language  from 
our  own. 


86          LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

"In  respect  to  a  fusion,  I  am  in  favor  of  it  whenever 
it  can  be  effected  on  Republican  principles,  but  upon 
no  other  condition.  A  fusion  upon  any  other  platform 
would  be  as  insane  as  unprincipled.  It  would  thereby 
lose  the  whole  North,  while  the  common  enemy  would 
still  have  the  support  of  the  entire  South.  The  ques- 
tion in  relation  to  men  is  different.  There  are  good 
and  patriotic  men  and  able  statesmen  in  the  South  whom 
I  would  willingly  support  if  they  would  place  them- 
selves on  Republican  ground ;  but  I  shall  oppose  the 
lowering  of  the  Republican  standard  even  by  a  hair's- 
breadth." 

During  the  gubernatorial  canvass  of  1859,  in  Ohio, 
Lincoln  was  invited  to  address  the  people  of  that  State, 
and  appeared  before  them,  at  Columbus  and  Cincinnati, 
in  September.  The  impression  made  was  one  of  univer- 
sal favor  ;  and  it  was  through  the  interest  awakened  by 
these  speeches,  that  the  Republican  Central  Committee 
and  State  officers  of  Ohio,  were  led  to  request  copies  of 
his  debates  with  Douglas,  for  publication  in  book-form. 
The  Ohioans  went  to  hear  him  with  full  allowances  for  the 
exaggerations  of  Illinois  enthusiasm ;  when  they  had 
heard  him,  their  own  admiration  equaled  that  of  the 
Illinoians. 

It  was,  doubtless,  with  still  greater  surprise  that  New 
England  and  New  York  listened  to  him.  His  speech  at 
the  Cooper  Institute,  in  the  commercial  and  intellectual 
metropolis,  was  the  most  brilliant  success  in  everything 
that  makes  such  an  effort  successful.  His  audience  was 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  87 

vast  in  numbers,  and  profoundly  attentive.  They  found 
him,  indeed,  lank  and  angular  in  form,  but  of  fine 
oratorial  presence;  lucid  and  simple  in  his  style,  vigor- 
ous in  argument,  speaking  with  a  full,  clear  voice.  He 
addressed  appeals  of  reason  to  the  sense  and  conscience 
of  his  hearers,  and  skillfully  hit  the  humor  of  a  critical 
and  unfamiliar  people. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  Republican  National  Convention,  which  assem- 
bled at  Chicago  on  the  16th  of  May,  was  no  less  marked 
by  a  diversity  of  preferences  than  a  unity  of  interests. 
In  three  days  it  accomplished  its  work — the  conciliation 
of  men  and  the  assimilation  of  sections  on  minor  points 
of  difference.  In  three  days  Abraham  Lincoln  was  nom- 
inated, and  the  armies  of  the  irrepressible  conflict  were 
united  under  the  banner  of  the  man  who  was  the  first 
to  utter  that  great  truth,  which  all  men  felt.* 

I  need  hardly  recount  the  incidents  of  that  Conven- 
tion, of  which  the  great  event  has  proven  so  satisfac- 
tory. They  are  all  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  people, 
who  watched,  hour  by  hour,  and  day  by  day,  the  pro- 
ceedings of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  bodies  which 
ever  assembled  in  this  country. 

The  Convention  met  in  Chicago  without  factitious 
advantages.  The  failure  of  the  Democracy  to  nominate 
at  Charleston  left  the  Republicans  in  the  dark  as  to  the 
champion  whom  they  were  to  combat,  and  there  was 
nothing  to  be  gained  by  the  choice  of  a  man  with  refer- 
ence to  a  Democratic  probability. 


*  See  Lincoln's  speech  at  Springfield,  June  17,  1858. 
(88) 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.          89 

"What  lay  before  the  Convention,  then,  was  the  task 
of  choosing  a  positive  man  embodying  decided  Repub- 
lican principles,  whose  strength  and  decision  of  opinions 
should  attract  one  side  of  the  party,  while  nothing  in 
his  history  should  repel  the  other. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  third  ballot,  which  resulted  in 
the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  all  the  indications 
were  favorable  to  the  success  of  William  H.  Seward. 
That  great  man,  whom  no  fortuity  can  lessen  in  the 
proud  regard  of  the  party,  had  rallied  to  his  cause  a 
host  of  friends — attached,  powerful,  vigilant.  These 
came  to  Chicago,  and  into  the  Convention,  with  a  solid 
strength  that  swept  everything  before  it. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  only  candidate  upon  whom  a 
considerable  number  of  those  who  opposed  Mr.  Seward 
from  policy,  were  united;  but  it  was  not  until  after  two 
votes  of  sentiment  that  a  sufficient  force  was  diverted 
from  other  favorites  to  swell  Mr.  Lincoln's  vote  into  a 
majority. 

The  leader  of  the  New  York  delegation,  who  had 
worked  so  faithfully  for  Mr.  Seward,  was  the  first  to 
move  the  unanimous  nomination  of  Lincoln,  which  was 
done  amid  demonstrations  of  the  wildest  enthusiasm,  in 
the  wigwam  of  the  Convention  and  throughout  the  city 
of  Chicago.  At  the  same  instant  the  lightning  flashed 
the  tidings  throughout  the  land,  and  in  a  thousand 
towns  and  cities  the  cannon  thundered  back  the  jubi- 
lant responses  of  the  people. 

The  fact  of  his  nomination  was  at  once  telegraphed 
8 


90          LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

to  Lincoln,  at  Springfield.  He  received  it  with  charac- 
teristic quiet.  Seated  in  the  Illinois  State  Journal  office, 
talking  over  the  Convention  with  a  number  of  friends,  he 
was  approached  by  the  telegraphic  operator.  "  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, you  are  nominated  for  the  Presidency."  Lincoln 
took  the  proffered  dispatch  in  silence,  and  read  it.  At 
length  he  folded  it  carefully,  and  saying  to  the  exuber- 
ant bystanders,  "  There  is  a  little  woman  down  street 
who  would  like  to  know  something  about  this,"  went 
home  to  communicate  the  news  to  his  wife. 

The  little  city  of  Springfield  was  in  a  phrensy  of  ex- 
citement; and  that  night  all  the  streets  were  ablaze 
with  bonfires,  and  thronged  by  the  rejoicing  Republi- 
cans. The  fact  of  the  nomination  of  the  man  whom 
every  one  of  his  fellow-townsmen  regarded  with  pride, 
was  excuse  enough  for  all  sorts  of  vocal  and  pyrotechnic 
extravagances. 

The  next  day,  the  excursion  train  arrived  from  Chi- 
cago with  a  large  number  of  delegates,  and  the  Com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  Convention  to  make  Lincoln 
officially  acquainted  with  his  nomination. 

The  deputation  was  received  at  Mr.  Lincoln's  house, 
and  when  the  guests  had  assembled  in  the  parlor,  Mr. 
Ashmun,  the  President  of  the  Convention,  said  : 

"I  have,  sir,  the  honor,  in  behalf  of  the  gentlemen 
who  are  present,  a  Committee  appointed  by  the  Republi- 
can Convention,  recently  assembled  at  Chicago,  to  dis- 
charge a  most  pleasant  duty.  We  have  come,  sir,  under 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  91 

a  vote  of  instructions  to  that  Committee,  to  notify  yon 
that  you  have  been  selected  by  the  Convention  of  the 
Republicans  at  Chicago,  for  President  of  the  United 
States.  They  instruct  us,  sir,  to  notify  you  of  that 
selection,  and  that  Committee  deem  it  not  only  respect- 
ful to  yourself,  but  appropriate  to  the  important  matter 
which  they  have  in  hand,  that  they  should  come  in  per- 
son, and  present  to  you  the  authentic  evidence  of  the 
action  of  that  Convention  ;  and,  sir,  without  any  phrase 
which  shall  either  be  considered  personally  plauditory  to 
yourself,  or  which  shall  have  any  reference  to  the  prin- 
ciples involved  in  the  questions  which  are  connected  with 
your  nomination,  I  desire  to  present  to  you  the  letter 
which  has  been  prepared,  and  which  informs  you  of  the 
nomination,  and  with  it  the  platform,  resolutions,  and 
sentiments  which  the  Convention  adopted.  Sir,  at  your 
convenience  we  shall  be  glad  to  receive  from  you  such  a 
response  as  it  may  be  your  pleasure  to  give  us." 

To  this  address  Mr.  Lincoln  listened  with  grave  atten- 
tion, and  replied : 

"MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE: 

"I  tender  to  you  and  through  you  to  the  Republican 
National  Convention,  and  all  the  people  represented  in 
it,  my  profoundest  thanks  for  the  high  honor  done  me, 
which  you  now  formally  announce.  Deeply,  and  even 
painfully  sensible  of  the  great  responsibility  which  is 
inseparable  from  this  high  honor — a  responsibility  which 


92         LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

I  could  almost  wish  had  fallen  upon  some  one  of  the  far 
more  eminent  men  and  experienced  statesmen  whose  dis- 
tinguished names  were  before  the  Convention,  I  shall, 
by  your  leave,  consider  more  fully  the  resolutions  of  the 
Convention  denominated  the  platform,  and  without  un- 
necessary or  unreasonable  delay,  respond  to  you,  Mr. 
Chairman,  in  writing,  not  doubting  that  the  platform 
will  be  found  satisfactory,  and  the  nomination  gratefully 
accepted. 

"  And  now  I  will  not  longer  defer  the  pleasure  of 
taking  you,  and  each  of  you,  by  the  hand." 

After  this  response,  it  is  proper  to  immediately  add  the 
letter  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  has  since  formally  accepted 
the  nomination  : 

11  SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS,  May  23,  1860. 
"  HON.  GEORGE  ASHMUN, 

'  President  of  the  Republican  National  Convention  : 

"Sin:  I  accept  the  nomination  tendered  me  by  the 
Convention  over  which  you  presided,  of  which  I  am 
formally  apprised  in  the  letter  of  yourself  and  others 
acting  as  a  Committee  of  the  Convention  for  that  purpose. 
The  declaration  of  principles  and  sentiments  which  ac- 
companies your  letter  meets  my  approval,  and  it  shall 
be  my  care  not  to  violate  it,  or  disregard  it  in  any  part. 

"  Imploring  the  assistance  of  Divine  Providence,  and 
with  due  regard  to  the  views  and  feelings  of  all  who 
were  represented  in  the  Convention,  to  the  rights  of  all 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  93 

the  states  and  territories  and  people  of  the  nation,  to 
the  inviolability  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  perpetual 
union,  harmony,  and  prosperity  of  all,  I  am  most  happy 
to  co-operate  for  the  practical  success  of  the  principles 
declared  by  the  Convention. 

"Your  obliged  friend  and  fellow-citizen, 

"ABRAHAM  LINCOLN." 

People  who  visit  Mr.  Lincoln  are  pleased  no  less  at 
the  simple  and  quiet  style  in  which  he  lives,  than  at  the 
perfect  ease  and  cordiality  with  which  they  are  received. 
The  host  puts  off  half  his  angularity  at  home,  or  hides 
it  beneath  the  mantle  of  hospitality ;  and  the  hostess 
is  found  "a  pattern  of  lady-like  courtesy  and  polish," 
who  "converses  with  freedom  and  grace,  and  is  thor- 
oughly aufait  in  all  the  little  amenities  of  society,"  and 
who  will  "do  the  honors  of  the  White  House  with 
appropriate  grace."  Intellectually,  she  is  said  to  be 
little  her  husband's  inferior. 

Lincoln's  residence  is  a  comfortable  two-story  frame 
house,  not  now  new  in  appearance,  and  situated  in  the 
northeast  part  of  Springfield.  The  grounds  about  it, 
which  are  not  spacious,  are  neatly  and  tastefully  kept. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  political  room  is  an  apartment  in  the 
State  House,  at  the  door  of  which  you  knock  uncere- 
moniously. A  sturdy  voice  calls  out,  "Come  in!;'  and 
you  find  yourself  in  the  presence  of  a  man  who  rises 
to  the  hight  of  six  feet  three  inches,  as  you  enter. 
He  shakes  you  with  earnest  cordiality  by  the  hand — 


94  LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

receiving  you  as  in  the  old  days  he  would  have  received 
a  friend  who  called  upon  him  at  his  farm-work  j  for  those 
who  have  always  known  him,  say  that,  though  Lincoln 
is  now  more  distinguished,  be  has  always  been  a  great 
man,  and  his  simple  and  hearty  manners  have  undergone 
no  change.  You  find  him,  in  physique,  thin  and  wiry, 
and  he  has  an  appearance  of  standing  infirmly  upon 
his  feet,  which  often  deceived  those  who  contended  with 
him  in  the  wrestle,  in  his  younger  days. 

The  great  feature  of  the  man's  face  is  his  brilliant  and 
piercing  eye,  which  has  never  been  dimmed  by  any  vice, 
great  or  small.  His  rude  and  vigorous  early  life  contrib- 
uted to  strengthen  the  robust  constitution  which  he  in- 
herited, and  he  is  now,  at  fifty,  in  the  prime  of  life,  with 
rugged  health,  though  bearing,  in  the  lines  of  his  face, 
the  trace  of  severe  and  earnest  thought. 


The  biographer's  task  ends  here,  and  he  does  not  feel 
that  any  speculations  with  regard  to  the  future  would  be 
of  great  worth  or  pertinence,  though  conjecture  is  easy 
and  a  prophetic  reputation  possible.  He  prefers  to  leave 
the  future  of  Lincoln  to  Providence  and  to  the  people, 
who  often  make  history  without  the  slightest  respect  to 
the  arrangements  of  sagacious  writers. 


I 


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MEMORABILIA 


CHICAGO     CONVENTION 


(97) 


MEMORABILIA 


CHICAGO    CONVENTION 


THE  Convention  was  called  to  order,  on  the  morning 
of  the  16th,  by  Governor  Morgan,  of  New  York. 

Mr.  David  Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania,  took  the  chair 
as  temporary  President. 

In  the  afternoon,  Mr.  George  Ashmun,  of  Massachu- 
setts, was  chosen  permanent  President. 


CHICAGO  REPUBLICAN  PLATFORM, 

ADOPTED  IAY  17,  1860,  BY  THE  REPUBLICAN  NATIONAL  CONVENTION. 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  delegated  representatives  of 
the  Republican  electors  of  the  United  States,  in  Conven- 
tion assembled,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duty  we  owe  to 
our  constituents  and  our  country,  unite  in  the  following 
declarations : 

First.  That  the  history  of  the  nation  during  the  last 
four  years  has  fully  established  the  propriety  and  neces- 
sity of  the  organization  and  perpetuation  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  that  the  causes  which  called  it  into 

(99)  « 


100        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

existence  are  permanent  in  their  nature,  and  now,  more 
than  ever  before,  demand  its  peaceful  and  constitutional 
triumph. 

Second.  That  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  pro- 
mulgated in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  em- 
bodied in  the  Federal  Constitution,  is  essential  to  the 
preservation  of  our  Republican  institutions,  and  that  the 
Federal  Constitution,  the  rights  of  the  states,  and  the 
Union  of  the  states,  must  and  shall  be  preserved. 

Third.  That  to  the  Union  of  the  states  this  nation 
owes  its  unprecedented  increase  in  population  ;  its  sur- 
prising development  of  material  resources ;  its  rapid 
augmentation  of  wealth  ;  its  happiness  at  home  and  its 
honor  abroad,  and  we  hold  in  abhorrence  all  schemes 
for  disunion,  come  from  whatever  source  they  may  ;  and 
we  congratulate  the  country  that  no  Republican  member 
of  Congress  has  uttered  or  countenanced  a  threat  of  dis- 
union, so  often  made  by  Democratic  members  of  Con- 
gress, without  rebuke  and  with  applause  from  their 
political  associates ;  and  we  denounce  those  threats  of 
disunion,  in  case  of  a  popular  overthrow  of  their  ascend- 
ency, as  denying  the  vital  principles  of  a  free  govern- 
ment, and  as  an  avowal  of  contemplated  treason,  which 
it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  an  indignant  people  strongly 
to  rebuke  and  forever  silence. 

Fourth.  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the  rights 
of  the  states,  and  especially  the  right  of  each  state  to 
order  and  control  its  own  domestic  institutions,  accord- 
ing to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  is  essential  to  that 
balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfection  and  endurance 
of  our  political  faith  depends,  and  we  denounce  the  law- 
less invasion  by  an  armed  force  of  any  state  or  territory, 
no  matter  under  what  pretext,  as  among  the  gravest  of 
crimes. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        101 

Fifth.  That  the  present  Democratic  administration  has 
far  exceeded  our  worst  apprehensions  in  its  measureless 
subserviency  to  the  exac'tions  of  a  sectional  interest,  as 
is  especially  evident  in  its  desperate  exertions  to  force 
the  infamous  Lecompton  Constitution  upon  the  protest- 
ing people  of  Kansas  ;  in  construing  the  personal  rela- 
tion between  master  and  servant  to  involve  an  unqual- 
ified property  in  persons;  in  its  attempted  enforcement 
everywhere,  on  land  and  sea,  through  the  intervention 
of  Congress  and  the  Federal  courts,  of  the  extreme 
pretensions  of  a  purely  local  interest,  and  in  its  general 
and  unvarying  abuse  of  the  power  intrusted  to  it  by  a 
confiding  people. 

Sixth.  That  the  people  justly  view  with  alarm  the 
reckless  extravagance  which  pervades  every  department 
of  the  Federal  Government ;  that  a  return  to  rigid  econ- 
omy and  accountability  is  indispensable  to  arrest  the 
system  of  plunder  of  the  public  treasury  by  favored  par- 
tisans ;  while  the  recent  startling  developments  of  fraud 
and  corruption  at  the  Federal  Metropolis  show  that 
an  entire  change  of  administration  is  imperatively  de- 
manded. 

Seventh.  That  the  new  dogma  that  the  Constitution 
of  its  own  force  carries  slavery  into  any  or  all  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  United  States,  is  a  dangerous  political 
heresy,  at  variance  with  the  explicit  provisions  of  that 
instrument  itself,  with  cotemporaneous  exposition,  and 
with  legislative  and  judicial  precedent;  is  revolutionary 
in  its  tendency,  and  subversive  of  the  peace  and  har- 
mony of  the  country. 

Eighth.  That  the  normal  condition  of  all  the  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States  is  that  of  freedom ;  that  as  our 
republican  fathers,  when  they  had  abolished  slavery  in 
all  our  national  territory,  ordained  that  no  person  should 


102       LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  pro- 
cess of  law,  it  becomes  our  duty,  by  legislation,  when- 
ever such  legislation  is  necessary,  to  maintain  this  pro- 
vision of  the  Constitution  against  all  attempt  to  violate 
it;  and  we  deny  the  authority  of  Congress,  or  a  Terri- 
torial Legislature,  or  of  any  individuals,  to  give  legal 
existence  to  slavery  in  any  territory  of  the  United 
States. 

Ninth.  That  we  brand  the  recent  reopening  of  the 
African  slave-trade,  under  the  cover  of  our  national 
flap:,  aided  by  perversions  of  judicial  power,  as  a  crime 
against  humanity,  a  burning  shame  to  our  country  and 
age;  and  we  call  upon  Congress  to  take  prompt  and  effi- 
cient measures  for  the  total  and  final  suppression  of 
that  execrable  traffic. 

Tenth.  That  in  the  recent  vetoes  by  their  Federal 
Governors  of  the  acts  of  the  Legislatures  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  prohibiting  slavery  in  those  territories,  we 
find  a  practical  illustration  of  the  boasted  Democratic 
principle  of  non-intervention  and  popular  sovereignty, 
embodied  in  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill,  and  a  de- 
nunciation of  the  deception  and  fraud  involved  therein. 

Eleventh.  That  Kansas  should,  of  right,  be  immedi- 
ately admitted  as  a  state  under  the  Constitution  re- 
cently formed  and  adopted  by  her  people,  and  accepted 
by  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Twelfth.  That  while  providing  revenue  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  General  Government  by  duties  upon  im- 
posts, sound  policy  requires  such  an  adjustment  of  these 
imposts  as  to  encourage  the  development  of  the  indus- 
trial interest  of  the  whole  country;  and  we  commend 
that  policy  of  national  exchanges  which  secures  to  the 
workingmen  liberal  wages,  to  agriculture  remunerating 
prices,  to  mechanics  and  manufacturers  an  adequate  re- 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.       103 

ward  for  their  skill,  labor,  and  enterprise,  and  to  the 
nation  commercial  prosperity  and  independence. 

Thirteenth.  That  we  protest  against  any  sale  or  alien- 
ation to  others  of  the  public  lands  held  by  actual  set- 
tlers, and  against  any  view  of  the  Free  Homestead  policy 
which  regards  the  settlers  as  paupers  or  supplicants  for 
public  bounty,  and  we  demand  the  passage  by  Congress 
of  the  complete  and  satisfactory  Homestead  measure 
which  has  already  passed  the  House. 

Fourteenth.  That  the  National  Republican  party  is 
opposed  to  any  change  in  our  naturalization  laws,  or  any 
state  legislation  by  which  the  rights  of  citizenship  hith- 
erto accorded  to  emigrants  from  foreign  lands  shall  be 
abridged  or  impaired,  and  in  favor  of  giving  a  full  and 
efficient  protection  to  the  rights  of  all  classes  of  citi- 
zens, whether  native  or  naturalized,  both  at  home  and 
abroad. 

Fifteenth.  That  appropriations  by  Congress  for  River 
and  Harbor  improvements  of  a  national  character,  re- 
quired for  the  accommodation  and  security  of  our  ex- 
isting commerce,  are  authorized  by  the  Constitution  and 
justified  by  an  obligation  of  the  Government  to  protect 
the  lives  and  property  of  its  citizens. 

Sixteenth.  That  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  is  im- 
peratively demanded  by  the  interests  of  the  whole  coun- 
try ;  that  the  Federal  Government  ought  to  render  im- 
mediate and  efficient  aid  in  its  construction,  and  that  as 
preliminary  thereto,  a  daily  overland  mail  should  be 
promptly  established. 

Seventeenth.  Finally,  having  thus  set  forth  our  dis- 
tinctive principles  and  views,  we  invite  the  co-operation 
of  all  citizens,  however  differing  on  other  questions, 
who  substantially  agree  with  us  in  their  affirmance  and 
support. 


104       LIFE   AND    SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

On  motion  of  GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS,  of  New  York, 
the  following  was  added  to  the  second  resolution  : 

"That  we  solemnly  reassert  the  self-evident  truths 
that  all  are  endowed  by  the  Creator  with  certain  ina- 
lienable rights,  among  which  are  those  of  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness;  that  governments  are 
instituted  among  men  to  secure  the  enjoyment  of  these 
rights." 


BALLOTS  FOR  PRESIDENT  IN  THE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION. 


FIRST    BALLOT. 


STATES. 

Seward... 

\  Lincoln.. 

» 
! 

1 

f 

5j« 

r< 
1 
0 

f 

0 

1 

1  Dayton... 

Snmner  .. 

fe 

~ 
- 

1  Collamer 

Maine  

10 

8 

New  Hampshire  

1 

7 

1 

j 

10 

Massachusetts  

?,1 

4 

Ehode  Island  . 

1 

| 

1 

1 

? 

1 

7 

9 

70 

New  Jersey  

14 

Pennsylvania  

l1^ 

4 

47K 

1 

I 

8 

fi 

Virginia 

8 

14 

1 

Kentucky  

ft 

I 

? 

1 

H 

1 

8 

•]\ 

9fi 

Missouri  

18 

1? 

Illinois  

90 

Texas  

4 

9 

"Wisconsin  

10 

) 

9 

T 

1 

1 

1 

California  

8 

Minnesota  

8 

^ 

TERRITORIES. 

fi 

2 

| 

1 

9 

District  of  Columbia..., 

?, 

LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

SECOND    BALLOT. 


105 


STATES. 

1 

5" 

i 

! 

Cameron.. 

McLean  ... 

o 
1 

! 

p 
K 

1 

10 

6 

K"ew  Hampshire. 

1 

9 

10 

22 

4 

3 

•    2 

3 

Connecticut 

4 

4 

2 

2 

New  York 

70 

4 

10 

48 

1 

2  1/ 

3 

8 

6 

8 

14 

1 

7 

9 

6 

Ohio         

14 

3 

29 

26 

18 

Michigan          ......... 

12 

22 

6 

Wisconsin 

10 

2 

5 

i/ 

California  

8 

8 

5 

TERRITORIES. 

6 

Nebraska  

3 

1 

2 

District  of  Columbia. 

2 

THIRD    BALLOT. 


? 

1 

| 

g 

g 

o 

o 

p 

5 

I 

§ 

g 

g- 

s 

STATES. 

S. 

! 

: 

• 

• 

9 

: 

I 

: 

10 

6 

1 

9 

Vermont      

10 

... 

18 

8 

Rhode  Island  

1 

1 

5 

1 

Connecticut 

1 

4 

2 

4 

1 

XQW  York... 

70 

106       LIFE   AND    SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 


THIRD    BALLOT. CONTINUED. 


STATES. 

Seward  

| 

Q 

D 

McLean.... 

H 

f 
& 

a 

V! 

New  Jersey      

5 

8 

1 

Pennsylvania  

52 

2 

2 

9 

Delaware  

6 

Virginia  

8 

14 

Kentucky 

6 

4 

13 

Ohio  

15 

29 

2 

Indiana  

26 

Missouri  

18 

Michigan  ..          . 

12 

Illinois  

22 

Texas  .   ..   . 

6 

Wisconsin  

10 

Iowa  

2 

•y 

£!/ 

California 

8 

Minnesota  

8 

Oregon 

4 

TERRITORIES. 

Kansas                     . 

6 

Nebraska  

3 

2 

1 

District  of  Columbia 

2 

Total,.., 

180 

22 

24^ 

231M 

5 

1 

1 

MR.  EVARTS,  OF  NEW  YORK,  ON  HIS  MOTION  TO  MAKE  THE  NOMINATION  OF 
MR.  LINCOLN  UNANIMOUS. 

MR.  LINCOLN  being  announced  as  nominated  on  the 
third  ballot,  MR.  EVARTS,  Chairman  of  the  New  York 
delegation,  took  the  stand  and  said : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  NATIONAL 
REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION  :  The  State  of  New  York,  by 
a  full  delegation,  with  complete  unanimity  of  purpose 
at  home,  came  to  this  Convention  and  presented  to  its 
choice  one  of  its  citizens,  who  had  served  the  State 
from  boyhood  up,  who  had  labored  for  and  loved  it. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        107 

We  came  from  a  great  state,  with,  as  we  thought,  a 
great  statesman,  (prolonged  cheers;)  and  our  love  of 
the  great  Republic  for  which  we  are  all  delegates — the 
great  American  Union — and  our  love  of  the  great  Re- 
publican party  of  the  Union,  and  our  love  of  our 
statesman  and  candidate,  made  us  think  that  we  did 
our  duty  to  the  country,  and  the  whole  country,  in 
expressing  our  preference  and  love  for  him.  (Loud 
cheers.)  For,  gentlemen,  it  was  from  Governor  Seward 
that  most  of  us  learned  to  love  Republican  principles 
and  the  Republican  party.  (Renewed  cheers.)  His 
fidelity  to  the  country,  the  Constitution,  and  the  laws, 
his  fidelity  to  the  party  and  the  principle  that  the 
majority  govern,  his  interest  in  the  advancement  of  our 
party  to  its  victory,  that  our  country  may  rise  to  its 
true  glory,  induces  me  to  assume  to  speak  his  senti- 
ments as  I  do  indeed  the  opinions  of  our  delegation, 
when  I  move  you,  as  I  do  now,  that  the  nomination 
of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  of  Illinois,  as  the  Republican 
candidate  for  the  suffrages  of  the  whole  country  for 
the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  American  Union, 
be  made  unanimous.  (Enthusiastic  cheers.) 


MR.  BROWmG,  OF  ILLINOIS,  RESPONDS. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  : 
On  behalf  of  the  Illinois  delegation  I  have  been  requested 
to  make  some  proper  response  to  the  speeches  that  we 
have  heard  from  our  friends  of  the  other  states.  Illinois 
ought  hardly  on  this  occasion  to  be  expected  to  make  a 
speech,  or  called  upon  to  do  so.  We  are  so  much  elated 
at  present  that  we  are  scarcely  in  a  condition  to  collect 


108       LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

our  own  thoughts,  or  to  express  them  intelligently  to 
those  who  may  listen  to  us. 

I  desire  to  say,  gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  that 
in  the  contest  through  which  we  have  just  passed,  we 
have  been  actuated  by  no  feeling  of  hostility  to  the 
illustrious  statesman  from  New  York,  who  was  in  com- 
petition with  our  own  loved  and  gallant  son.  We  were 
actuated  solely  by  a  desire  for  the  certain  advancement 
of  Republicanism.  The  Republicans  of  Illinois,  be- 
lieving the  principles  of  the  Republican  party  are  the 
same  principles  which  embalmed  the  hearts  and  nerved 
the  arms  of  our  patriot  sires  of  the  Revolution  ;  that 
they  are  the  same  principles  which  were  vindicated 
upon  every  battle-field  of  American  freedom,  were  actu- 
ated solely  by  the  conviction  that  the  triumph  of  these 
principles  was  necessary  not  only  to  the  salvation  of  our 
party,  but  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  free  institutions 
whose  blessings  we  now  enjoy ;  and  we  have  struggled 
against  the  nomination  of  the  illustrious  statesman  of 
New  York,  solely  because  we  believed  here  that  we 
could  go  into  battle  on  the  prairies  of  Illinois  with 
more  hope  and  more  prospect  of  success  under  the 
leadership  of  our  own  noble  son.  No  Republican  who 
has  a  love  of  freedom  in  his  heart,  and  who  has  marked 
the  course  of  Governor  Seward  of  New  York,  in  the 
councils  of  our  nation,  who  has  witnessed  the  many 
occasions  upon  which  he  has  risen  to  the  very  hight 
of  moral  sublimity  in  his  conflicts  with  the  enemies  of 
free  institutions;  no  heart  that  has  the  love  of  freedom 
in  it  and  has  witnessed  these  great  conflicts  of  his,  can 
do  otherwise  than  venerate  his  name  on  this  occasion. 
I  desire  to  say  only,  that  the  hearts  of  Illinois  are  to- 
day filled  with  emotions  of  gratification,  for  which  they 
have  no  utterance.  We  are  not  more  overcome  by  the 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        109 

triumph  of  our  noble  Lincoln,  loving  him  as  we  do, 
knowing  the  purity  of  his  past  life,  the  integrity  of  his 
character,  and  devotion  to  the  principles  of  our  party, 
and  the  gallantry  with  which  we  will  be  conducted 
through  this  contest,  than  we  are  by  the  magnanimity  of 
our  friends  of  the  great  and  glorious  State  of  New  York 
in  moving  to  make  this  nomination  unanimous.  On 
behalf  of  the  delegation  from  Illinois,  for  the  Republi- 
can party  of  this  great  and  growing  prairie  State,  I 
return  to  all  our  friends,  New  York  included,  our 
heartfelt  thanks  and  gratitude  for  the  nomination  of 
this  Convention. 


PRESIDENT  ASHIDTS  VALEDICTORY. 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  :  It  becomes  now 
my  duty  to  put  to  you  the  last  motion  which,  in  the 
order  of  parliamentary  law,  the  President  has  the  power 
to  propose.  It  will  probably  be  the  last  proposition 
which  he  can  ever  make  to  most  of  you  in  any  Con- 
vention. But  before  doing  it,  and  before  making  a 
single  other  remark,  I  beg  to  tender  you  each  and  all 
my  cordial  thanks  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  you 
have  sustained  me  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  of 
this  station.  I  confess  to  you,  when  I  assumed  it,  I  did 
it  with  some  apprehension  that  I  might  not  be  able  to 
come  up  to  the  expectations  which  had  been  formed.  It 
was  a  bold  undertaking,  in  every  respect,  and  I  know 
that  I  could  not  have  accomplished  it  half  so  well  as  I 
have  done,  but  for  the  extreme  generosity  manifested  on 
all  sides  of  the  house.  There  was  a  solemn  purpose 
here  in  the  minds  and  in  the  hearts  of  not  merely  the 
Convention,  but  of  the  vast  assemblage  which  has  sur- 


110        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

rounded  us,  that  before  we  separated  we  would  accom- 
plish the  high  duty.  That  duty,  gentlemen,  we  have 
accomplished.  Your  sober  judgments,  your  calm  delib- 
erations, after  a  comparison  and  discussion,  free,  frank, 
brotherly,  and  patriotic,  have  arrived  at  a  conclusion  at 
which  the  American  people  will  arrive.  Every  symp- 
tom, every  sign,  every  indication  accompanying  the  Con- 
vention, in  all  its  stages,  are  a  high  assurance  of  success, 
and  I  will  not  doubt,  and  none  of  us  do  doubt,  that  it 
will  be  a  glorious  success. 

Allow  me  to  say  of  the  nominee  that,  although  it  may 
be  of  no  consequence  to  the  American  people  or  to  you, 
they  are  both  personally  known  to  me.  It  was  my  good 
fortune  to  have  served  with  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  and  I  rejoice  in  the  opportunity  to 
say  that  there  was  never  elected  to  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives a  purer,  nor  a  more  intelligent  and  loyal  rep- 
resentative than  Abraham  Lincoln.  (Great  applause.) 
The  contest  through  which  he  passed  during  the  last 
two  years  has  tried  him  as  by  fire;  and  in  that  contest  in 
which  we  are  about  to  go  for  him  now,  I  am  sure  that 
there  is  not  one  man  in  this  country  that  will  be  com- 
pelled to  hang  his  head  for  anything  in  the  life  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  You  have  a  candidate  worthy  of  the 
cause ;  you  are  pledged  to  his  success ;  humanity  is 
pledged  to  his  success ;  the  cause  of  free  government  is 
pledged  to  his  success.  The  decree  has  gone  forth  that 
he  shall  succeed.  (Tremendous  applause.) 

I  have  served  also  in  public  life  with  Hannibal  Ham- 
lin.  In  the  House  of  Representatives  we  were  ranged 
on  different  sides.  He  was  a  firm  Democrat  of  the  old 
school,  while  I  was  as  firmly,  and  perhaps  too  much  so, 
a  copy  of  the  Webster  school.  (Applause.)  But,  as  is 
known  to  many  of  the  gentlemen  who  sit  here  before  me 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  Ill 

to-day,  there  was  always  a  sympathetic  chord  between 
him  and  me  upon  the  question  that  has  brought  us  here 
to-day.  (Great  applause.)  And  while  the  old  divisions 
of  party  have  crumbled  away,  and  the  force  of  circum- 
stances have  given  rise  to  new  issues,  it  is  not  strange 
that  we  are  found  battling  together  in  the  common  cause. 
I  say  then,  gentlemen,  that  you  have  got  a  ticket  worthy 
of  the  cause,  and  worthy  of  the  country. 

Now,  gentlemen,  that  we  have  completed  so  well,  so 
thoroughly,  the  great  work  which  the  people  sent  us  here 
to  do,  let  us  adjourn  to  our  several  constituencies ;  and, 
thanks  be  to  God  who  giveth  the  victory,  we  will  tri- 
umph. (Applause.) 


SPEECHES. 


10  (113) 


SPEECH 

DELIVERED  AT  CINCINNATI,  OHIO,  SEPTEMBER,  1859. 


[THE  following  speech  is  here  republished,  with  the  insertion 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  views  upon  labor,  and  the  ability  of  the  laborer 
to  become  an  employer.  These  were  omitted  in  the  first  report, 
and  the  passages  are  supplied  by  the  reporter  for  the  present 
work.] 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  STATE  OP  OHIO:  This 
is  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  have  appeared  before 
an  audience  in  so  great  a  city  as  this.  I  therefore — 
though  I  am  no  longer  a  young  man — make  this  appear- 
ance under  some  degree  of  embarrassment.  But  I  have 
found  that  when  one  is  embarrassed,  usually  the  shortest 
way  to  get  through  with  it  is  to  quit  talking  or  thinking 
about  it,  and  go  at  something  else. 

I  understand  that  you  have  had  recently  with  you  my 
very  distinguished  friend,  Judge  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  and 
I  understand,  without  having  had  an  opportunity  (not 
greatly  sought  to  be  sure)  of  seeing  a  report  of  the  speech 
that  he  made  here,  that  he  did  me  the  honor  to  mention 
my  humble  name.  I  suppose  that  he  did  so  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  some  objection  to  some  sentiment  at  some 
time  expressed  by  me.  I  should  expect,  it  is  true,  that 
Judge  Douglas  had  reminded  you,  or  informed  you,  if 
you  had  never  before  heard  it,  that  I  had  once  in  my  life 

(115) 


116        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

declared  it  as  my  opinion  that  this  Government  can  not 
"endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free;  that  a 
house  divided  against  itself  can  not  stand/'  and,  as  I 
had  expressed  it,  I  did  not  expect  the  house  to  fall ; 
that  I  did  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved  ;  but 
that  I  did  expect  that  it  would  cease  to  be  divided  ;  that 
it  would  become  all  one  thing  or  all  the  other;  that 
either  the  opposition  of  slavery  would  arrest  the  further 
spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  would 
rest  in  the  belief  that  it  was  in  the  course  of  ultimate 
extinction;  or  the  friends  of  slavery  will  push  it  forward 
until  it  becomes  alike  lawful  in  all  the  states,  old  or  new, 
free  as  well  as  slave.  I  did,  fifteen  months  ago,  express 
that  opinion,  and  upon  many  occasions  Judge  Douglas 
has  denounced  it,  and  has  greatly,  intentionally  or  unin- 
tentionally, misrepresented  my  purpose  in  the  expression 
of  that  opinion. 

I  presume,  without  having  seen  a  report  of  his  speech, 
that  he  did  so  here.  I  presume  that  he  alluded  also  to  that 
opinion,  in  different  language,  having  been  expressed  at  a 
subsequent  time  by  Governor  Seward  of  New  York,  and 
that  he  took  the  two  in  a  lump  and  denounced  them  ;  that 
he  tried  to  point  out  that  there  was  something  couched  in 
this  opinion  which  led  to  the  making  of  an  entire  uni- 
formity of  the  local  institutions  of  the  various  states  of 
the  Union,  in  utter  disregard  of  the  different  states,  which 
in  their  nature  would  seem  to  require  a  variety  of  insti- 
tutions, and  a  variety  of  laws,  conforming  to  the  differ- 
ences in  the  nature  of  the  different  states. 

Not  only  so;  I  presume  he  insisted  that  this  was  a 
declaration  of  war  between  the  free  and  slave  states — 
that  it  was  the  sounding  to  the  onset  of  continual  war 
between  the  different  states,  the  slave  and  free  states. 

This  charge,  in  this  form,  was  made  by  Judge  Doug- 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.        117 

las  on,  I  believe,  the  9th, of  July,  1858,  in  Chicago,  in 
my  hearing.  On  the  next  evening,  I  made  some  reply 
to  it.  I  informed  him  that  many  of  the  inferences  he 
drew  from  that  expression  of  mine  were  altogether  for- 
eign to  any  purpose  entertained  by  me,  and  in  so  far  as 
he  should  ascribe  these  inferences  to  me,  as  my  purpose, 
he  was  entirely  mistaken ;  and  in  so  far  as  he  might 
argue  that  whatever  might  be  my  purpose,  actions  con- 
forming to  my  views  would  lead  to  these  results,  he 
might  argue  and  establish  if  he  could ;  but,  so  far  as 
purposes  were  concerned,  he  was  totally  mistaken  as  to 
me. 

When  I  made  that  reply  to  him — when  I  told  him,  on 
the  question  of  declaring  war  between  the  different  states 
of  the  Union,  that  I  had  not  said  that  I  did  not  expect 
any  peace  upon  this  question  until  slavery  was  extermi- 
nated ;  that  I  had  only  said  I  expected  peace  when  that 
institution  was  put  where  the  public  mind  should  rest  in 
the  belief  that  it  was  in  course  of  ultimate  extinction ; 
that  I  believed  from  the  organization  of  our  Government, 
until  a  very  recent  period  of  time,  the  institution  had 
been  placed  and  continued  upon  such  a  basis  ;  that  we 
had  had  comparative  peace  upon  that  question  through  a 
portion  of  that  period  of  time,  only  because  the  public 
mind  rested  in  that  belief  in  regard  to  it,  and  that  when 
we  returned  to  that  position  in  relation  to  that  matter,  I 
supposed  we  should  again  have  peace  as  we  previously 
had.  I  assured  him,  as  I  now  assure  you,  that  I  neither 
then  had,  nor  have,  or  ever  had,  any  purpose  in  any  way 
of  interfering  with  the  institution  of  slavery,  where  it 
exists,  I  believe  we  have  no  power,  under  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States;  or  rather  under  the  form  of 
Government  under  which  we  live,  to  interfere  with  the 
institution  of  slavery,  or  any  other  of  the  institutions  of 


118        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

our  sister  states,  be  they  free  9r  slave  states.  I  declared 
then,  and  I  now  redeclare,  that  I  have  as  little  inclina- 
tion to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery,  where  it 
now  exists,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  General 
Government,  or  any  other  instrumentality,  as  I  believe 
we  have  no  power  to  do  so. 

I  accidentally  used  this  expression  :  I  had  no  purpose 
of  entering  into  the  slave  states  to  disturb  the  institution 
of  slavery!  So,  upon  the  first  occasion  that  Judge  Doug- 
las got  an  opportunity  to  reply  to  me,  he  passed  by  the 
whole  body  of  what  I  had  said  upon  that  subject,  and 
seized  upon  the  particular  expression  of  mine,  that  I  had 
no  purpose  of  entering  into  the  slave  states  to  disturb 
the  institution  of  slavery.  "  0,  no,"  said  he,  "he  (Lin- 
coln) won't  enter  into  the  slave  states  to  disturb  the 
institution  of  slavery;  he  is  too  prudent  a  man  to  do 
such  a  thing  as  that ;  he  only  means  that  he  will  go  on 
to  the  line  between  the  free  and  slave  states,  and  shoot 
over  at  them.  This  is  all  he  means  to  do.  He  means  to 
do  them  all  the  harm  he  can,  to  disturb  them  all  he 
can,  in  such  a  way  as  to  keep  his  own  hide  in  perfect 
safety." 

Well,  now,  I  did  not  think,  at  that  time,  that  that 
was  either  a  very  dignified  or  very  logical  argument  ; 
but  so  it  was,  I  had  to  get  along  with  it  as  well  as  I 
could. 

It  has  occurred  to  me  here  to-night,  that  if  I  ever  do 
.shoot  over  the  line  at  the  people  on  the  other  side  of  the 
line  into  a  slave  state,  and  purpose  to  do  so,  keeping  my 
skin  safe,  that  I  have  now  about  the  best  chance  I  shall 
ever  have.  I  should  not  wonder  that  there  are  some 
Kentuckians  about  this  audience;  we  are  cloee  to  Ken- 
tucky ;  and  whether  that  be  so  or  not,  we  are  on  elevated 
ground,  and  by  speaking  distinctly,  I  should  not  wonder 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        119 

if  some  of  the  Kentuckians  would  hear  me  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river.  For  that  reason,  I  propose  to  address 
a  portion  of  what  I  have  to  say  to  the  Kentuckians. 

I  say,  then,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  Kentuckians,  that 
I  am  what  they  call,  as  I  understand  it,  a  "Black  Repub- 
lican." I  think  slavery  is  wrong,  morally  and  politically. 
I  desire  that  it  should  he  no  further  spread  in  these 
United  States,  and  I  should  not  object  if  it  should  grad- 
ually terminate  in  the  whole  Union.  While  I  say  this 
for  myself,  I  say  to  you,  Kentuckians,  that  I  understand 
you  differ  radically  with  me  upon  this  proposition  ;  that 
you  believe  slavery  is  a  good  thing ;  that  slavery  is 
right ;  that  it  ought  to  be  extended  and  perpetuated  in 
this  Union.  Now,  there  being  this  broad  difference  be- 
tween us,  I  do  not  pretend  in  addressing  myself  to  you, 
Kentuckians,  to  attempt  proselyting  you;  that  would  be 
a  vain  effort.  I  do  not  enter  upon  it.  I  only  propose 
to  try  to  show  you  that  you  ought  to  nominate  for  the 
next  Presidency,  at  Charleston,  my  distinguished  friend, 
Judge  Douglas.  In  all  that  there  is  a  difference  between 
you  and  him,  I  understand  he  is  sincerely  for  you,  and 
more  wisely  for  you  than  you  are  for  yourself.  I  will 
try  to  demonstrate  that  proposition.  Understand  now,  I 
say  that  I  believe  he  is  as  sincerely  for  you,  and  more 
wisely  for  you,  than  you  are  for  yourselves. 

What  do  you  want  more  than  anything  else  to  make 
successful  your  views  of  slavery — to  advance  the  out- 
spread of  it,  and  to  secure  and  perpetuate  the  nationality 
of  it?  What  do  you  want  more  than  anything  else? 
What  is  needed  absolutely  ?  What  is  indispensable  to 
you  ?  Why  !  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion, it  is  to  retain  a  hold  upon  the  North — it  is  to  retain 
support  and  strength  from  the  free  states.  If  you  can 
get  this  support  and  strength  from  the  free  states  you 


120       LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

can  succeed.  If  you  do  not  get  this  support  and  this 
strength  from  the  free  states,  you  are  in  the  minority, 
and  you  are  beaten  at  once. 

If  that  proposition  be  admitted — and  it  is  undeniable 
— then  the  next  thing  I  say  to  you  is,  that  Douglas,  of 
all  the  men  in  this  nation,  is  the  only  man  that  affords 
you  any  hold  upon  the  free  states;  that  no  other  man  can 
give  you  any  strength  in  the  free  states.  This  being  so, 
if  you  doubt  the  other  branch  of  the  proposition,  whether 
he  is  for  you — whether  he  is  really  for  you,  as  I  have 
expressed  it,  I  propose  asking  your  attention  for  a  while 
to  a  few  facts. 

The  issue  between  you  and  me,  understand,  is,  that  I 
think  slavery  is  wrong,  and  ought  not  to  be  outspread, 
and  you  think  it  is  right  and  ought  to  be  extended  and 
perpetuated.  (A  voice,  "0  Lord.")  That  is  my  Ken- 
tuckian  I  am  talking  to  now. 

I  now  proceed  to  try  to  show  you  that  Douglas  is  sin- 
cerely for  you,  and  more  wisely  for  you,  than  you  are  for 
yourselves. 

In  the  first  place,  we  know  that  in  a  Government  like 
this,  in  a  Government  of  the  people,  where  the  voice  of 
all  the  men  of  that  country,  substantially,  enters  into  the 
execution — or  administration  rather — of  the  Government 
— in  such  a  Government,  what  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all 
of  it,  is  public  opinion.  I  lay  down  the  proposition,  that 
Judge  Douglas  is  not  only  the  man  that  promises  you  in 
advance  a  hold  upon  the  North,  and  support  in  the  North, 
but  that  he  constantly  molds  public  opinion  to  your 
ends;  that  in  every  possible  way  he  can,  he  constantly 
molds  the  public  opinion  of  the  North  to  your  ends; 
and  if  there  are  a  few  things  in  which  he  seems  to  be 
against  you — a  few  things  which  he  says  that  appear  to 
be  against  you,  and  a  few  that  he  forbears  to  say  which 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.       121 

you  would  like  to  have  him  say — you  ought  to  remember 
that  the  saying  of  the  one,  or  the  forbearing  to  say  the 
other,  would  lose  his  hold  upon  the  North,  and,  by  con 
sequence,  would  lose  his  capacity  to  serve  you. 

Upon  this  subject  of  molding  public  opinion,  I  call 
your  attention  to  the  fact — for  a  well-established  fact  it 
is — that  the  judge  never  says  your  institution  of  slavery 
is  wrong ;  he  never  says  it  is  right,  to  be  sure,  but  he 
never  says  it  is  wrong.  There  is  not  a  public  man  in  the 
United  States,  I  believe,  with  the  exception  of  Senator 
Douglas,  who  has  not,  at  some  time  in  his  life,  declared 
his  opinion  whether  the  thing  is  right  or  wrong;  but 
Senator  Douglas  never  declares  it  is  wrong.  He  leaves 
himself  at  perfect  liberty  to  do  all  in  your  favor  which 
he  would  be  hindered  from  doing  if  he  were  to  declare 
the  thing  to  be  wrong.  On  the  contrary,  he  takes  all  the 
chances  that  he  has  for  inveigling  the  sentiment  of  the 
North,  opposed  to  slavery,  into  your  support,  by  never 
saying  it  is  right.  This  you  ought  to  set  down  to  his 
credit.  You  ought  to  give  him  full  credit  for  this  much, 
little  though  it  be,  in  comparison  to  the  whole  which  he 
does  for  you. 

Some  other  things  I  will  ask  your  attention  to.  He 
said  upon  the  floor  of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  he 
has  repeated  it,  as  I  understand,  a  great  many  times, 
that  he  does  not  care  whether  slavery  is  "  voted  up  or 
voted  down."  This  again  shows  you,  or  ought  to  show 
you,  if  you  would  reason  upon  it,  that  he  does  not  be- 
lieve it  to  be  wrong ;  for  a  man  may  say,  when  he  sees 
nothing  wrong  in  a  thing,  that  he  does  not  care  whether 
it  be  voted  up  or  voted  down  ;  but  no  man  can  logically 
say  that  he  cares  not  whether  a  thing  goes  up  or  goes 
down,  which  to  him  appears  to  be  wrong.  You  therefore 
have  a  demonstration  in  this,  that  to  Judge  Douglas's 
11 


122       LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

mind,  your  favorite  institution,  which  you  would  havi 
spread  out,  and  made  perpetual,  is  no  wrong. 

Another  thing  he  tells  you,  in  a  speech  made  at  Mem- 
phis, in  Tennessee,  shortly  after  the  canvass  in  Illinois, 
last  year.     He  there  distinctly  told  the  people  that  therf 
was  a  "  line  drawn  by  the  Almighty  across  this  continent 
on  the  one  side  of  which  the  soil  must  always  be  culti 
vated  by  slaves ;"  that  he  did  not  pretend  to  know  ex 
actly  where  that  line  was,  but  that  there  was  such  a  line 
I  want  to  ask  your  attention  to  that  proposition  again: 
that  there  is  one  portion  of  this  continent  where  the  Al- 
mighty has  designed  the  soil  shall  always  be  cultivated 
by  slaves;  that  its  being  cultivated  by  slaves  at  that  place 
is  right ;  that  it  has  the  direct  sympathy  and  authority 
of  the  Almighty.     Whenever  you  can  get  these  Northern 
audiences  to  adopt  the  opinion  that  slavery  is  right  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Ohio ;  whenever  you  can  get  them, 
in  pursuance  of  Douglas's  views,  to  adopt  that  sentiment, 
they  will  very  readily  make  the  other  argument,  which 
is  perfectly  logical,  that  that  which  is  right  on  that  side 
of  the  Ohio,  can  not  be  wrong  on  this  ;  and  that  if  you 
have  that  property  on  that  side  of  the  Ohio,  under  the 
seal  and  stamp  of  the  Almighty,  when  by  any  means  it 
escapes  over  here,  it  is  wrong  to  have  Constitutions  and 
laws  "to  devil"  you  about  it.     So  Douglas  is  molding 
the  public  opinion   of  the  North,  first  to  say  that  the 
thing  is  right  in   your  state  over   the   Ohio   river,  and 
hence  to  say  that  that  which  is  right  there  is  not  wrong 
here,  and  that  all  laws  and  Constitutions  here,  recogniz- 
ing it  as  being  wrong,  are  themselves  wrong,  and  ought 
to  be  repealed  and  abrogated.     He  will  tell  you,  men  of 
Ohio,  that  if  you  choose  here  to  have  laws  against  slav- 
ery, it  is  in  conformity  to  the  idea  that  your  climate  is 
not  suited  to  it;  that  your  climate  is  not  suited  to  slave 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        123 

labor,  and  therefore  you  have  Constitutions  and  laws 
against  it. 

Let  us  attend  to  that  argument  for  a  little  while,  and 
see  if  it  be  sound.  You  do  not  raise  sugar-cane,  (except 
the  new-fashioned  sugar-cane,  and  you  won't  raise  that 
long,)  but  they  do  raise  it  in  Louisiana.  You  don't 
raise  it  in  Ohio  because  you  can't  raise  it  profitably,  be- 
cause the  climate  don't  suit  it.  They  do  raise  it  in  Lou- 
isiana because  there  it  is  profitable.  Now,  Douglas  will 
tell  you  that  is  precisely  the  slavery  question.  That 
they  do  have  slaves  there  because  they  are  profitable,  and 
you  don't  have  them  here  because  they  are  not  profitable. 
If  that  is  so,  then  it  leads  to  dealing  with  the  one  pre- 
cisely as  with  the  other.  Is  there  anything  in  the  Con- 
stitution or  laws  of  Ohio  against  raising  sugar-cane? 
Have  you  found  it  necessary  to  put  any  such  provision 
in  your  law  ?  Surely  not !  No  man  desires  to  raise 
sugar-cane  in  Ohio ;  but,  if  any  man  did  desire  to  do  so, 
you  would  say  it  was  a  tyrannical  law  that  forbids  his 
doing  so;  and  whenever  you  shall  agree  with  Douglas, 
whenever  your  minds  are  brought  to  adopt  his  argument, 
as  surely  you  will  have  reached  the  conclusion,  that  al- 
though slavery  is  not  profitable  in  Ohio,  if  any  man 
wants  it,  it  is  wrong  to  him  not  to  let  him  have  it. 

In  this  matter  Judge  Douglas  is  preparing  the  public 
mind  for  you  of  Kentucky,  to  make  perpetual  that  good 
thing  in  your  estimation,  about  which  you  and  I  differ. 

In  this  connection  let  me  ask  your  attention  to  another 
thing.  I  believe  it  is  safe  to  assert  that,  five  years  ago, 
no  living  man  had  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  negro 
had  no  share  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Let 
me  state  that  again  :  five  years  ago  no  living  man  had 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  negro  had  no  share  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  If  there  is  in  this  large 


124       LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

audience  any  man  who  ever  knew  of  that  opinion  being 
put  upon  paper  as  much  as  five  years  ago,  I  will  be 
obliged  to  him  now  or  at  a  subsequent  time  to  show  it. 

If  that  be  true  I  wish  you  then  to  note  the  next  fact ; 
that  within  the  space  of  five  years  Senator  Douglas,  in 
the  argument  of  this  question,  has  got  his  entire  party, 
so  far  as  I  know,  without  exception,  to  join  in  saying 
that  the  negro  has  no  share  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. If  there  be  now,  in  all  these  United  States, 
one  Douglas  man  that  does  not  say  this,  I  have  been  un- 
able upon  any  occasion  to  scare  him  up.  Now,  if  none 
of  you  said  this  five  years  ago,  and  all  of  you  say  it  now, 
that  is  a  matter  that  you  Kentuckians  ought  to  note. 
That  is  a  vast  change  in  the  Northern  public  sentiment 
upon  that  question. 

Of  what  tendency  is  that  change  ?  The  tendency  of 
that  change  is  to  bring  the  public  mind  to  the  conclusion 
that  when  men  are  spoken  of,  the  negro  is  not  meant ; 
that  when  negroes  are  spoken  of,  brutes  alone  are  con- 
templated. That  change  in  public  sentiment  has  already 
degraded  the  black  man  in  the  estimation  of  Douglas 
and  his  followers  from  the  condition  of  a  man  of  some 
sort,  and  assigned  him  to  the  condition  of  a  brute.  Now, 
you  Kentuckians  ought  to  give  Douglas  credit  for  this. 
That  is  the  largest  possible  stride  that  can  be  made  in 
regard  to  the  perpetuation  of  your  thing  of  slavery. 

A  voice — "  Speak  to  Ohio  men,  and  not  to  Kentuck- 
ians !" 

Mr.  Lincoln — I  beg  permission  to  speak  as  I  please. 

In  Kentucky  perhaps,  in  many  of  the  slave  states  cer- 
tainly, you  are  trying  to  establish  the  rightfulness  of 
slavery  by  reference  to  the  Bible.  You  are  trying  to 
show  that  slavery  existed  in  the  Bible  times  by  Divine 
ordinance.  Now,  Douglas  is  wiser  than  you,  for  your 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.        125 

own  benefit,  upon  that  subject.  Douglas  knows  tbat 
whenever  you  establish  that  slavery  was  right  by  the 
Bible,  it  will  occur  that  that  slavery  was  the  slavery  of 
the  white  man — of  men  without  reference  to  color — and 
he  knows  very  well  that  you  may  entertain  that  idea  in 
Kentucky  as  much  as  you  please,  but  you  will  never  win 
any  Northern  support  upon  it.  He  makes  a  wiser  argu- 
ment for  you  ;  he  makes  the  argument  that  the  slavery  of 
the  llacJt  man,  the  slavery  of  the  man  who  has  a  skin  of 
a  different  color  from  your  own,  is  right.  He  thereby 
brings  to  your  support  Northern  voters  who  could  not 
for  a  moment  be  brought  by  your  own  argument  of  the 
Bible-right  of  slavery.  Will  you  not  give  him  credit 
for  that?  Will  you  not  say  that  in  this  matter  he  is 
more  wisely  for  you  than  you  are  for  yourselves  ? 

Now,  having  established  with  his  entire  party  this 
doctrine,  having  been  entirely  successful  in  that  branch 
of  his  efforts  in  your  behalf,  he  is  ready  for  another. 

At  this  same  meeting  at  Memphis,  he  declared  that, 
while  in  all  contests  between  the  negro  and  the  white 
man,  he  was  for  the  white  man,  but  that  in  all  questions 
between  the  negro  and  the  crocodile  he  was  for  the  negro. 
He  did  not  make  that  declaration  accidentally  at  Mem- 
phis. He  made  it  a  great  many  times  in  the  canvass  in 
Illinois  last  year,  (though  I  don't  know  that  it  was  re- 
ported in  any  of  his  speeches  there,)  but  he  frequently 
made  it.  I  believe  he  repeated  it  at  Columbus,  and  I 
should  not  wonder  if  he  repeated  it  here.  It  is,  then,  a 
deliberate  way  of  expressing  himself  upon  that  subject. 
It  is  a  matter  of  mature  deliberation  with  him  thus  to 
express  himself  upon  that  point  of  his  case,  It  there- 
fore requires  some  deliberate  attention. 

The  first  inference  seems  to  be  that  if  you  do  not 
enslave  the  negro  you  are  wronging  the  white  man  in 


126        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

some  way  or  other;  and  that  "whoever  is  opposed  to  the 
negro  being  enslaved,  is,  in  some  way  or  other,  against 
the  white  man.  Is  not  that  a  falsehood?  If  there  was 
a  necessary  conflict  between  the  white  man  and  the 
negro,  I  should  be  for  the  white  man  as  much  as  Judge 
Douglas  ;  but  I  say  there  is  no  such  necessary  conflict. 
I  say  that  there  is  room  enough  for  us  all  to  be  free,  and 
that  it  not  only  does  not  wrong  the  white  man  that  the 
negro  should  be  free,  but  it  positively  wrongs  the  mass 
of  the  white  men  that  the  negro  should  be  enslaved  ; 
that  the  mass  of  white  men  are  really  injured  by  the 
effects  of  slave  labor  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fields  of  their 
own  labor. 

But  I  do  not  desire  to  dwell  upon  this  branch  of  the 
question  more  than  to  say  that  this  assumption  of  his  is 
false,  and  I  do  hope  that  the  fallacy  will  not  long  pre- 
vail in  the  minds  of  intelligent  white  men.  At  all 
events,  you  ought  to  thank  Judge  Douglas  for  it.  It  is 
for  your  benefit  it  is  made. 

The  other  branch  of  it  is,  that  in  a  struggle  between 
the  negro  and  the  crocodile,  he  is  for  the  negro.  Well, 
I  don't  know  that  there  is  any  struggle  between  the 
negro  and  the  crocodile  either.  I  suppose  that  if  a 
crocodile  (or,  as  we  old  Ohio  river  boatmen  used  to  call 
them,  alligators)  should  come  across  a  white  man,  he 
would  kill  him  if  he  could,  and  so  he  would  a  negro. 
But  what,  at  last,  is  this  proposition  ?  I  believe  that  it 
is  a  sort  of  proposition  in  proportion,  which  may  be 
stated  thus:  "As  the  negro  is  to  the  white  man,  so  is 
the  crocodile  to  the  negro;  and  as  the  negro  may  right- 
fully treat  the  crocodile  as  a  beast  or  reptile,  so  the  white 
man  may  rightfully  treat  the  negro  as  a  beast  or  reptile." 
That  is  really  the  "  knip  "  of  all  that  argument  of  his. 

Now,  my  brother  Kentuckians,  who  believe  in  this, 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.         127 

you  ought  to  thank  Judge  Douglas  for  having  put  that 
in  a  much  more  taking  way  than  any  of  yourselves  have 
done. 

Again,  Douglas's  great  principle,  "Popular  Sovereign- 
ty," as  he  calls  it,  gives  you,  by  natural  consequence, 
the  revival  of  the  slave-trade  whenever  you  want  it.  If 
you  question  this,  listen  a  while,  consider  a  while,  what  I 
Bhall  advance  in  support  of  that  proposition. 

He  says  that  it  is  the  sacred  right  of  the  man  who 
goes  into  the  territories,  to  have  slavery  if  he  wants  it. 
Grant  that  for  argument's  sake.  Is  it  not  the  sacred 
right  of  the  man  who  don't  go  there  equally  to  buy 
slaves  in  Africa,  if  he  wants  them  ?  Can  you  point  out 
the  difference  ?  The  man  who  goes  into  the  Territories 
of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  or  any  other  new  territory, 
with  the  sacred  right  of  taking  a  slave  there  which 
belongs  to  him,  would  certainly  have  no  more  right  to 
take  one  there  than  I  would,  who  own  no  slave,  out  who 
would  desire  to  buy  one  and  take  him  there.  You  will 
not  say — you,  the  friends  of  Judge  Douglas — but  that 
the  man  who  does  not  own  a  slave,  has  an  equal  right 
to  buy  one  and  take  him  to  the  territory,  as  the  other 
does? 

A  VOICE — "I  want  to  ask  a  question.  Don't  foreign 
nations  interfere  with  the  slave-trade  ?" 

MR.  LINCOLN — Well!  I  understand  it  to  be  a  principle 
of  Democracy  to  whip  foreign  nations  whenever  they 
interfere  with  us. 

VOICE — "  I  only  ask  for  information.  I  am  a  Repub- 
lican myself." 

MR.  LINCOLN — You  and  I  will  be  on  the  best  terms  in 
the  world,  but  I  do  not  wish  to  be  diverted  from  the 
point  I  was  trying  to  press. 

I  say  that  Douglas's  Popular  Sovereignty,  establishing 


128       LIFE    AND    SPEECHES   OF    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

his  sacred  right  in  the  people,  if  you  please,  if  carried  to 
its  logical  conclusion,  gives  equally  the  sacred  right  to 
the  people  of  the  states  or  the  territories  themselves  to 
buy  slaves,  wherever  they  can  buy  them  cheapest ;  and 
if  any  man  can  show  a  distinction,  I  should  like  to  hear 
him  try  it.  If  any  man  can  show  how  the  people  of 
Kansas  have  a  better  right  to  slaves  because  they  want 
them,  than  the  people  of  Georgia  have  to  buy  them  in 
Africa,  I  want  him  to  do  it.  I  think  it  can  not  be  done. 
If  it  is  "  Popular  Sovereignty  ?'  for  the  people  to  have 
slaves  because  they  want  them,  it  is  i(  Popular  Sovereign- 
ty "  for  them  to  buy  them  in  Africa,  because  they  desire 
to  do  so. 

I  know  that  Douglas  has  recently  made  a  little  effort — 
not  seeming  to  notice  that  he  had  a  different  theory — has 
made  an  effort  to  get  rid  of  that.  He  has  written  a  let- 
ter, addressed  to  somebody,  I  believe,  who  resides  in 
Iowa,  declaring  his  opposition  to  the  repeal  of  the  laws 
that  prohibit  the  African  slave-trade.  He  bases  his  op- 
position to  such  repeal,  upon  the  ground  that  these  laws 
are  themselves  one  of  the  compromises  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States.  Now  it  would  be  very  inter- 
esting to  -see  Judge  Douglas,  or  any  of  his  friends,  turn 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  point  out 
that  compromise,  to  show  where  there  is  any  compromise 
in  the  Constitution,  or  provision  in  the  Constitution,  ex- 
press or  implied,  by  which  the  administrators  of  that 
Constitution  are  under  any  obligation  to  repeal  the 
African  slave-trade.  I  know,  or  at  least  I  think  I  know, 
that  the  framers  of  that  Constitution  did  expect  that  the 
African  slave-trade  would  be  abolished  at  the  end  of 
twenty  years,  to  which  time  their  prohibition  against  its 
being  abolished  extended.  I  think  there  is  abundant 
cotemporaneous  history  to  show  that  the  framers  of  the 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.         129 

Constitution  expected  it  to  be  abolished.  But  while 
they  so  expected,  they  gave  nothing  for  that  expectation, 
and  they  put  no  provision  in  the  Constitution  requiring 
it  should  be  so  abolished.  The  migration  or  importation 
of  such  persons  as  the  states  shall  see  fit  to  admit,  shall 
not  be  prohibited,  but  a  certain  tax  might  be  levied 
upon  such  importation.  But  what  was  to  be  done  after 
that  time?  The  Constitution  is  as  silent  about  that,  as 
it  is  silent,  personally,  about  myself.  There  is  absolute 
ly  nothing  in  it  about  that  subject ;  there  is  only  the 
expectation  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  that  the 
slave-trade  would  be  abolished  at  the  end  of  that  time, 
and  they  expected  it  would  be  abolished,  owing  to  pub- 
lic sentiment,  before  that  time,  and  they  put  that  provi- 
sion in,  in  order  that  it  should  not  be  abolished  before 
that  time,  for  reasons  which  I  suppose  they  thought  to 
be  sound  ones,  but  which  I  will  not  now  try  to  enumerate 
before  you. 

But  while  they  expected  the  slave-trade  would  be 
abolished  at  that  time,  they  expected  that  the  spread  of 
slavery  into  the  new  territories  should  also  be  restricted. 
It  is  as  easy  to  prove  that  the  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  expected  that  slavery  should 
be  prohibited  from  extending  into  the  new  territories,  as 
it  is  to  prove  that  it  was  expected  that  the  slave-trade 
should  be  abolished.  Both  these  things  were  expected. 
One  was  no  more  expected  than  the  other,  and  one  was 
no  more  a  compromise  of  the  Constitution  than  the  other. 
There  was  nothing  said  in  the  Constitution  in  regard  to 
the  spread  of  slavery  into  the  territory.  I  grant  that, 
but  there  was  something  very  important  said  about  it  by 
the  same  generation  of  men  in  the  adoption  of  the  old 
ordinance  of  '87,  through  the  influence  of  which,  you 
here  in  Ohio,  our  neighbors  in  Indiana,  we  in  Illinois, 


130        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

our  neighbors  in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  are  happy, 
prosperous,  teeming  millions  of  free  men.  That  genera- 
tion of  men,  though  not  to  the  full  extent  members  of 
the  Convention  that  framed  the  Constitution,  were  to 
some  extent  members  of  that  Convention,  holding  seats 
at  the  same  time  in  one  body  and  the  other,  so  that  if 
there  was  any  compromise  on  either  of  these  subjects, 
the  strong  evidence  is,  that  that  compromise  was  in  favor 
of  the  restriction  of  slavery  from  the  new  territories. 

But  Douglas  says  that  he  is  unalterably  opposed  to  the 
repeal  of  those  laws ;  because,  in  his  view,  it  is  a  compro- 
mise of  the  Constitution.  You  Kentuckians,  no  doubt, 
are  somewhat  offended  with  that !  You  ought  not  to  be ! 
You  ought  to  be  patient !  You  ought  to  know  that  if  he 
said  less  than  that,  he  would  lose  the  power  of  "  lugging  " 
the  Northern  States  to  your  support.  Really,  what  you 
would  push  him  to  do  would  take  from  him  his  entire 
power  to  serve  you.  And  you  ought  to  remember  how 
long,  by  precedent,  Judge  Douglas  holds  himself  obliged 
to  stick  by  compromises.  You  ought  to  remember  that 
by  the  time  you  yourselves  think  you  are  ready  to  inau- 
gurate measures  for  the  revival  of  the  African  slave-trade, 
that  sufficient  time  will  have  arrived,  by  precedent,  for 
Judge  Douglas  to  break  through  that  compromise.  He 
says  now  nothing  more  strong  than  he  said  in  1849,  when 
he  declared  in  favor  of  the  Missouri  Compromise — that 
precisely  four  years  and  a  quarter  after  he  declared  that 
compromise  to  be  a  sacred  thing,  which  uno  ruthless  hand 
would  ever  dare  to  touch,"  he>  himself,  brought  forward 
the  measure,  ruthlessly  to  destroy  it.  By  a  mere  calcula- 
tion of  time,  it  will  only  be  four  years  more  until  he  is 
ready  to  take  back  his  profession  about  the  sacredness  of 
the  Compromise  abolishing  the  slave-trade.  Precisely  as 
Boon  as  you  are  ready  to  have  his  services  in  that  direc- 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        131 

tion,  by  fair  calculation,  you  may  be  sure  of  having 
them. 

But  you  remember  and  set  down  to  Judge  Douglas's 
debt,  or  discredit,  that  he,  last  year,  said  the  people  of 
territories  can,  in  spite  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  exclude 
your  slaves  from  those  territories;  that  he  declared  by 
"  unfriendly  legislation,"  the  extension  of  your  property 
into  the  new  territories  may  be  cut  off  in  the  teeth  of  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

He  assumed  that  position  at  Freeport,  on  the  27th  of 
August,  1858.  He  said  that  the  people  of  the  territories 
can  exclude  slavery,  in  so  many  words.  You  ought,  how- 
ever, to  bear  in  mind  that  he  has  never  said  it  since.  You 
may  hunt  in  every  speech  that  he  has  since  made,  and  he 
has  never  used  that  expression  once.  He  has  never  seemed 
to  notice  that  he  is  stating  his  views  differently  from  what 
he  did  then ;  but,  by  some  sort  of  accident,  he  has  always 
really  stated  it  differently.  He  has  always,  since  then, 
declared  that  "the  Constitution  does  not  carry  slavery 
into  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  beyond  the  power 
of  the  people  legally  to  control  it,  as  other  property." 
Now,  there  is  a  difference  in  the  language  used  upon  that 
former  occasion  and  in  this  latter  day.  There  may  or 
may  not  be  a  difference  in  the  meaning,  but  it  is  worth 
while  considering  whether  there  is  not  also  a  difference 
in  meaning. 

What  is  it  to  exclude?  Why,  it  is  to  drive  it  out;  it 
is  in  some  way  to  put  it  out  of  the  territory ;  it  is  to  force 
it  across  the  line,  or  change  its  character,  so  that  as  prop- 
erty it  is  out  of  existence.  But  what  is  the  controlling 
of  it  "  as  other  property  ?"  Is  controlling  it  as  other 
property  the  same  thing  as  destroying  it,  or  driving  it 
away  ?  I  should  think  not.  I  should  think  the  controll- 
ing of  it  as  other  property  would  be  just  about  what  you 


132        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

in  Kentucky  should  want.  I  understand  the  controlling  of 
property  means  the  controlling  of  it  for  the  benefit  of  the 
owner  of  it.  While  I  have  no  doubt  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  would  say  "  God  speed  "  to  any  of 
the  territorial  Legislatures  that  should  thus  control  slave 
property,  they  would  sing  quite  a  different  tune,  if  by  the 
pretense  ,of  controlling  it  they  were  to  undertake  to  pass 
laws  which  virtually  excluded  it,  and  that  upon  a  very  well 
known  principle  to  all  lawyers,  that  what  a  Legislature  can 
not  directly  do,  it  can  not  do  by  indirection ;  that  as  the 
Legislature  has  not  the  power  to  drive  slaves  out,  they 
have  no  power  by  indirection,  by  tax,  or  by  imposing  bur- 
dens in  any  way  on  that  property,  to  effect  the  same  end, 
and  that  any  attempt  to  do  so  would  be  held  by  the  Dred 
Scott  court  unconstitutional. 

Douglas  is  not  willing  to  stand  by  his  first  proposition 
that  they  can  exclude  it,  because  we  have  seen  that  that 
proposition  amounts  to  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the 
naked  absurdity,  that  you  may  lawfully  drive  out  that 
which  has  a  lawful  right  to  remain.  He  admitted  at  first 
that  the  slave  might  be  lawfully  taken  into  the  territo- 
ries under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  yet 
asserted  that  he  might  be  lawfully  driven  out.  That  being 
the  proposition,  it  is  the  absurdity  I  have  stated.  He  is 
not  willing  to  stand  in  the  face  of  that  direct,  naked,  and 
impudent  absurdity ;  he  has,  therefore,  modified  his  lan- 
guage into  that  of  being  "  controlled  as  other  property." 

The  Kentuckians  do  n't  like  this  in  Douglas  !  I  will 
tell  you  where  it  will  go.  He  now  swears  by  the  court. 
He  was  once  a  leading  man  in  Illinois  to  break  down  a 
court,  because  it  had  made  a  decision  he  did  not  like. 
But  he  now  not  only  swears  by  the  court,  the  courts  having 
got  to  working  for  you,  but  he  denounces  all  men  -that  do 
not  swear  by  the  courts,  as  unpatriotic,  as  bad  citizens. 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.        133 

When  one  of  these  acts  of  unfriendly  legislation  shall 
impose  such  heavy  burdens  as  to,  in  effect,  destroy  prop- 
erty in  slaves  in  a  territory,  and  show  plainly  enough 
that  there  can  be  no  mistake  in  the  purpose  of  the  Legis- 
lature to  make  them  so  burdensome,  this  same  Supreme 
Court  will  decide  that  law  to  be  unconstitutional,  and  he 
will  be  ready  to  say  for  your  benefit,  "I  swear  by  the 
court;  I  give  it  up ;"  and  while  that  is  going  on,  he  has 
been  getting  all  his  men  to  swear  by  the  courts,  and  to 
give  it  up  with  him.  In  this  again  he  serves  you  faith- 
fully, and,  as  I  say,  more  wisely  than  you  serve  yourselves. 

Again  :  I  have  alluded  in  the  beginning  of  these  re- 
marks to  the  fact,  that  Judge  Douglas  has  made  great 
complaint  of  my  having  expressed  the  opinion  that  this 
Government  "  can  not  endure  permanently  half  slave  and 
half  free."  He  has  complained  of  Seward  for  using  dif- 
ferent language,  and  declaring  that  there  is  an  "  irrepress- 
ible conflict"  between  the  principles  of  free  and  slave 
labor.  [A  VOICE — "  He  says  it  is  not  original  with  Sew- 
ard. That  is  original  with  Lincoln."]  I  will  attend  to 
that  immediately,  sir.  Since  that  time,  Hickman,  of 
Pennsylvania,  expressed  the  same  sentiment.  He  has 
never  denounced  Mr.  Hickman.  Why  ?  There  is  a  little 
chance,  notwithstanding  that  opinion  in  the  mouth  of 
Hickman,  that  he  may  yet  be  a  Douglas  man.  That  is 
the  difference !  It  is  not  unpatriotic  to  hold  that  opinion 
if  a  man  is  a  Douglas  man. 

But  neither  I,  nor  Seward,  nor  Hickman,  is  entitled  to 
the  enviable  or  unenviable  distinction  of  having  first  ex- 
pressed that  idea.  That  same  idea  was  expressed  by  the 
Richmond  Enquirer,  in  Virginia,  in  1856  ;  quite  two  years 
before  it  was  expressed  by  the  first  of  us.  And  while 
Douglas  was  pluming  himself,  that  in  his  conflict  with 
my  humble  self,  last  year,  he  had  "  squelched  out "  that 


134       LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

fatal  heresy,  as  he  delighted  to  call  it,  and  had  suggested 
that  if  he  only  had  had  a  chance  to  be  in  New  York  and 
meet  Seward,  he  would  have  u squelched"  it  there  also, 
it  never  occurred  to  him  to  hreathe  a  word  against  Pryor. 
I  do  n't  think  that  you  can  discover  that  Douglas  ever 
talked  of  going  to  Virginia  to  "  squelch  "  out  that  idea 
there.  No.  More  than  that:  that  same  Roger  A.  Pryor 
was  brought  to  Washington  City  and  made  the  editor  of 
the  par  excellence  Douglas  paper,  after  making  use  oi  that 
expression,  which,  in  us,  is  so  unpatriotic  and  heretical. 
From  all  this,  my  Kentucky  friends  may  see  that  this 
opinion  is  heretical  in  his  view  only  when  it-  is  expressed 
by  men  suspected  of  a  desire  that  the  country  shall  all 
become  free,  and  not  when  expressed  by  those  fairly 
known  to  entertain  the  desire  that  the  whole  country  shall 
become  slave.  When  expressed  by  that  class  of  men,  it 
is  in  nowise  offensive  to  him.  In  this  again,  my  friends 
of  Kentucky,  you  have  Judge  Douglas  with  you. 

There  is  another  reason  why  you  Southern  people  ought 
to  nominate  Douglas  at  your  Convention  at  Charleston. 
That  reason  is  the  wonderful  capacity  of  the  man ;  the 
power  he  has  of  doing  what  would  seem  to  be  impossible. 
Let  me  call  your  attention  to  one  of  these  apparently  im- 
possible things. 

Douglas  had  three  or  four  very  distinguished  men  of 
the  most  extreme  antislavery  views  of  any  men  in  the 
Republican  party,  expressing  their  desire  for  his  re-elec- 
tion to  the  Senate  last  year.  That  would,  of  itself,  have 
seemed  to  be  a  little  wonderful,  but  that  wonder  is  hight- 
ened  when  we  see  that  Wise,  of  Virginia,  a  man  exactly 
opposed  to  them,  a  man  who  believes  in  the  Divine  right 
of  slavery,  was  also  expressing  his  desire  that  Douglas 
should  be  re-elected  ;  that  another  man  that  may  be  said 
to  be  kindred  to  Wise,  I£r.  Breckinridge,  the  Vice-Pres- 


LIPJi  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        135 

ident,  and  of  your  own  state,  was  also  agreeing  with  the 
antislavery  men  in  the  North,  that  Douglas  ought  to  be 
re-elected.  Still  to  heighten  the  wonder,  a  Senator  from 
Kentucky,  whom  I  have  always  loved  with  an  affection  as 
tender  and  endearing  as  I  have  ever  loved  any  man  ;  who 
was  opposed  to  the  antislavery  men  for  reasons  which 
seemed  sufficient  to  him,  and  equally  opposed  to  Wise 
and  Breckinridge,  was  writing  letters  into  Illinois  to  se- 
cure the  re-election  of  Douglas. 

Now  that  all  these  conflicting  elements  should  be 
brought,  while  at  dagger's  points>  with  one  another,  to 
support  him,  is  a  feat  that  is  worthy  for  you  to  note  and 
consider.  It  is  quite  probable  that  each  of  these  classes 
of  men  thought,  by  the  re-election  of  Douglas,  their 
peculiar  views  would  gain  something;  it  is  probable  that 
the  antislavery  men  thought  their  views  would  gain 
something;  that  Wise  and  Breckinridge  thought  so  too, 
as  regards  their  opinions  ;  that  Mr.  Crittenden  thought 
that  his  views  would  gain  something,  although  he  was 
opposed  to  both  these  other  men.  It  is  probable  that 
each  and  all  of  them  thought  that  they  were  using  Doug- 
las, and  it  is  yet  an  unsolved  problem  whether  he  was 
not  using  them  all.  If  he  was,  then  it  is  for  you  to 
consider  whether  that  power  to  perform  wonders,  is  one 
for  you  lightly  to  throw  away. 

There  is  one  other  thing  that  I  will  say  to  you  in  this 
relation.  It  is  but  my  opinion,  I  give  it  to  you  without 
a  fee.  It  is  my  opinion  that  it  is  for  you  to  take  him  or 
be  defeated ;  and  that  if  you  do  take  him  you  may  be 
beaten.  You  will  surely  be  beaten  if  you  do  not  take 
him.  We,  the  Republicans  and  others  forming  the  op- 
position of  the  country,  intend  to  "stand  by  our  guns," 
to  be  patient  and  firm,  and  in  the  long  run  to  beat  you 
•whether  you  take  him  or  not.  We  know  that  before  we 


136       LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

fairly  beat  you,  we  have  to  beat  you  both  together.  We 
know  that  you  are  "all  of  a  feather,"  and  that  we  have 
to  beat  you  altogether,  and  we  expect  to  do  it.  We 
don't  intend  to  be  very  impatient  about  it.  We  mean 
to  be  as  deliberate  and  calm  about  it  as  it  is  possible  to 
be,  but  as  firm  and  resolved  as  it  is  possible  for  men  to 
be.  When  we  do  as  we  say,  beat  you,  you  perhaps  want 
to  know  what  we  will  do  with  you. 

I  will  tell  you,  so  far  as  I  am  authorized  to  speak  for 
the  opposition,  what  we  mean  to  do  with  you.  We  mean 
to  treat  you,  as  near  as  we  possibly  can,  as  Washington, 
Jefferson,  and  Madison  treated  you.  We  mean  to  leave 
you  alone,  and  in  no  way  to  interfere  with  your  institu- 
tion ;  to  abide  by  all  and  every  compromise  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and,  in  a  word,  coming  back  to  the  original 
proposition,  to  treat  you,  so  far  as  degenerated  men  (if 
we  have  degenerated)  may,  according  to  the  examples  of 
those  noble  fathers — Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madi- 
son. 

We  mean  to  remember  that  you  are  as  good  as  we  ; 
that  there  is  no  difference  between  us  other  than  the 
difference  of  circumstances.  We  mean  to  recognize  and 
bear  in  mind  always  that  you  have  as  good  hearts  in 
your  bosoms  as  other  people,  or  as  we  claim  to  have, 
and  treat  you  accordingly.  We  mean  to  marry  your 
girls  when  we  have  a  chance — the  white  ones  I  mean  ; 
and  I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  I  once  did 
have  a  chance  in  that  way. 

I  have  told  you  what  we  mean  to  do.  I  want  to  know 
now,  when  that  thing  takes  place,  what  do  you  mean  to 
do  ?  I  often  hear  it  intimated  that  you  mean  to  divide 
the  Union  whenever  a  Republican,  or  an}7thing  like  it,  is 
elected  President  of  the  United  States. 

A  VOICE— That  is  BO. 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.       137 

MR.  LINCOLN — "That  is  so,"  one  of  them  says;  I  won- 
der if  he  is  a  Kentuckian  ? 

A  VOICE — He  is  a  Douglas  man. 

MR.  LINCOLN — Well,  then,  I  want  to  know  what  you 
are  going  to  do  with  your  half  of  it?  Are  you  going 
to  split  the  Ohio  down  through,  and  push  your  half 
off  a  piece?  Or  are  you  going  to  keep  it  right  along- 
side of  us  outrageous  fellows  ?  Or  are  you  going  to 
build  up  a  wall  some  way  between  your  country  and 
ours,  by  which  that  movable  property  of  yours  can't 
come  over  here  any  more,  to  the  danger  of  your  losing 
it?  Do  you  think  you  can  better  yourselves  on  that 
subject,  by  leaving  us  here  under  no  obligation  whatever 
to  return  those  specimens  of  your  movable  property  that 
come  hither?  You  have  divided  the  Union  because  we 
would  not  do  right  with  you,  as  you  think,  upon  that 
subject ;  when  we  cease  to  be  under  obligations  to  do 
anything  for  you,  how  much  better  off  do  you  think  you 
will  be?  Will  you  make  war  upon  us,  and  kill  us  all? 
Why,  gentlemen,  I  think  you  are  as  gallant  and  as  brave 
men  as  live  ;  that  you  can  fight  as  bravely  in  a  good 
cause,  man  for  man,  as  any  other  people  living;  that  you 
have  shown  yourselves  capable  of  this  upon  various  occa- 
sions ;  but  man  for  man,  you  are  not  better  than  we  are, 
and  there  are  not  so  many  of  you  as  there  are  of  us. 
You  will  never  make  much  of  a  hand  at  whipping  us. 
[f  we  were  fewer  in  numbers  than  you,  I  think  that  you 
could  whip  us  ;  if  we  were  equal,  it  would  likely  be  a 
drawn  battle;  but  being  inferior  in  numbers,  you  will 
make  nothing  by  attempting  to  master  us. 

But  perhaps  I  have  addressed  myself  as  long,  or  longer, 
to  the  Kentuckians  than  I  ought  to  have  done,  inasmuch 
as  I  have  said  that  whatever  course  you  take  we  intend 
in  the  end  to  beat  you. 
12 


138       LIFE   AN7D   SPEECHES   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

I  propose  to  address  a  few  remarks  to  our  friends,  by 
way  of  discussing  with  them  the  best  means  of  keeping 
that  promise  that  I  have  in  good  faith  made. 

It  may  appear  a  little  episodical  for  me  to  mention  the 
topic  of  which  I  shall  speak  now.  It  is  a  favorite  prop- 
osition of  Douglas's  that  the  interference  of  the  General 
Government,  through  the  ordinance  of  '87,  or  through 
any  other  act  of  the  General  Government,  never  has  made 
or  ever  can  make  a  free  state;  that  the  ordinance  of  ;87 
did  not  make  free  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  or  Illinois. 
That  these  states  are  free  upon  his  "great  principle"  of 
popular  sovereignty,  because  the  people  of  those  several 
states  have  chosen  to  make  them  so.  At  Columbus,  and 
probably  here,  he  undertook  to  compliment  the  people 
that  they  themselves  have  made  the  State  of  Ohio  free, 
and  that  the  ordinance  of  '87  was  not  entitled,  in  any 
degree,  to  divide  the  honor  with  them.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  people  of  the  State  of  Ohio  did  make  her  free 
according  to  their  own  will  and  judgment,  but  let  the 
facts  be  remembered. 

In  1802,  I  believe,  it  was  you  made  your  first  Con- 
stitution, with  the  clause  prohibiting  slavery,  and  you 
did  it,  I  suppose,  very  nearly  unanimously ;  but  you  should 
bear  in  mind  that  you — speaking  of  you  as  one  people — 
that  you  did  so  unembarrassed  by  the  actual  presence  of 
the  institution  among  you  ;  that  you  made  it  a  free  state, 
not  with  the  embarrassment  upon  you  of  already  having 
among  you  many  slaves,  which,  if  they  had  been  here, 
and  you  had  sought  to  make  a  free  state,  you  would  not 
know  what  to  do  with.  If  they  had  been  among  you, 
embarrassing  difficulties,  most  probably,  would  have  in- 
duced you  to  tolerate  a  slave  Constitution  instead  of  a 
free  one,  as  indeed  these  very  difficulties  have  constrained 
every  people  on  this  continent  who  have  adopted  slavery. 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.       139 

Pray  what  was  it  that  made  you  free?  What  kept  you 
free?  Did  you  not  find  your  country  free  when  you  came 
to  decide  that  Ohio  should  be  a  free  state  ?  It  is  import- 
ant to  inquire  by  what  reason  you  found  it  so?  Let  us 
take  an  illustration  between  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Ken- 
tucky. Kentucky  is  separated  by  this  river  Ohio,  not  a 
mile  wide.  A  portion  of  Kentucky,  by  reason  of  the 
course  of  the  Ohio,  is  further  north  than  this  portion  of 
Ohio,  in  which  we  now  stand.  Kentucky  is  entirely  cov- 
ered with  slavery — Ohio  is  entirely  free  from  it.  What 
made  that  difference?  Was  it  climate?  No!  A  portion 
of  Kentucky  was  further  north  than  this  portion  of  Ohio. 
Was  it  soil  ?  No  !  There  is  nothing  in  the  soil  of  the 
one  more  favorable  to  slave  labor  than  the  other.  It  was 
not  climate  or  soil  that  caused  one  side  of  the  line  to  be 
entirely  covered  with  slavery,  and  the  other  side  free  of 
it.  What  was  it?  Study  over  it.  Tell  us,  if  you  can, 
in  all  the  range  of  conjecture,  if  there  be  anything  you 
can  conceive  of  that  made  that  difference,  other  than  that, 
there  was  no  law  of  any  sort  keeping  it  out  of  Kentucky, 
while  the  ordinance  of  '87  kept  it  out  of  Ohio  ?  If  there 
is  any  other  reason  than  this,  I  confess  that  it  is  wholly 
beyond  my  power  to  conceive  of  it.  This,  then,  I  offer 
to  combat  the  idea  that  that  ordinance  has  never  made 
any  state  free. 

I  do  n't  stop  at  this  illustration.  I  come  to  the  State 
of  Indiana  ;  and  what  I  have  said  as  between  Kentucky 
and  Ohio,  I  repeat  as  between  Indiana  and  Kentucky ; 
it  is  equally  applicable.  One  additional  argument  is  ap- 
plicable also  to  Indiana.  In  her  territorial  condition  she 
more  than  once  petitioned  Congress  to  abrogate  the  ordi- 
nance entirely,  or  at  least  so  far  as  to  suspend  its  opera- 
tion for  a  time,  in  order  that  they  should  exercise  the 
"popular  sovereignty"  of  having  slaves  if  they  wanted 


140        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

them.  The  men  then  controlling  the  General  Govern- 
ment, imitating  the  men  of  the  Revolution,  refused  Indi- 
ana that  privilege.  And  so  we  have  the  evidence  that 
Indiana  supposed  she  could  have  slaves  if  it  were  not  for 
that  ordinance ;  that  she  besought  Congress  to  put  that 
barrier  out  of  the  way ;  that  Congress  refused  to  do  so, 
and  it  all  ended  at  last  in  Indiana  being  a  free  state. 
Tell  me  not,  then,  that  the  ordinance  of  '87  had  nothing 
to  do  with  making  Indiana  a  free  state,  when  we  find 
some  men  chafing  against  and  only  restrained  by  that 
barrier. 

Come  down  again  to  our  State  of  Illinois.  The  great 
Northwest  Territory,  including  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Michigan,  and  Wisconsin,  was  acquired  first,  I  believe, 
by  the  British  Government,  in  part,  at  least,  from  the 
French.  Before  the  establishment  of  our  independence, 
it  became  a  part  of  Virginia;  enabling  Virginia  after- 
ward to  transfer  it  to  the  General  Government.  There 
were  French  settlements  in  what  is  now  Illinois,  and  at 
the  same  time  there  were  French  settlements  in  what  is 
now  Missouri — in  the  tract  of  country  that  was  not  pur- 
chased till  about  1803.  In  these  French  settlements 
negro  slavery  had  existed  for  many  years — perhaps  more 
than  a  hundred,  if  not  as  much  as  two  hundred  years — 
at  Kaskaskia,  in  Illinois,  and  at  St.  Genevieve,  or  Cape 
Girardeau,  perhaps,  in  Missouri.  The  number  of  slaves 
wa"s  not  very  great,  but  there  was  about  the  same  num- 
ber in  each  place.  They  were  there  when  we  acquired 
the  territory.  There  was  no  effort  made  to  break  up  the 
relation  of  master  and  slave,  and  even  the  ordinance  of 
1787  was  not  so  enforced  as  to  destroy  that  slavery  in 
Illinois ;  nor  did  the  ordinance  apply  to  Missouri  at  all. 

What  I  want  to  ask  your  attention  to,  at  this  point,  is 
that  Illinois  and  Missouri  came  into  the  Union  about  the 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.         141 

same  time,  Illinois  in  the  latter  part  of  1818,  and  Mis- 
souri, after  a  struggle,  I  believe  some  time  in  1820.  They 
had  been  filling  up  with  American  people  about  the 
same  period  of  time;  their  progress  enabling  them  to 
come  into  the  Union  about  the  same.  At  the  end  of 
that  ten  years,  in  which  they  had  been  so  preparing, 
(for  it  was  about  that  period  of  time,)  the  number  of 
slaves  in  Illinois  had  actually  decreased  ;  while  in  Mis- 
souri, beginning  with  very  few,  at  the  end  of  that  ten 
years,  there  were  about  ten  thousand.  This  being  so, 
aad  it  being  remembered  that  Missouri  and  Illinois  are, 
to  a  certain  extent,  in  the  same  parallel  of  latitude — that 
the  northern  half  of  Missouri  and  the  southern  half  of 
Illinois  are  in  the  same  parallel  of  latitude — so  that  cli- 
mate would  have  the  same  effect  upon  one  as  upon  the 
other,  and  that  in  the  soil  there  is  no  material  difference 
so  far  as  bears  upon  the  question  of  slavery  being  settled 
upon  one  or  the  other — there  being  none  of  those  natural 
causes  to  produce  a  difference  in  filling  them,  and  yet 
there  being  a  broad  difference  in  their  filling  up,  we  arc 
led  again  to  inquire  what  was  the  cause  of  that  differ- 
ence. 

It  is  most  natural  to  say  that  in  Missouri  there  was  no 
law  to  keep  that  country  from  filling  up  with  slaves,  while 
in  Illinois  there  was  the  ordinance  of  !87.  The  ordi- 
nance being  there  slavery  decreased  during  that  ten 
years — the  ordinance  not  being  in  the  other,  it  increased 
from  a  few  to  ten  thousand.  Can  anybody  doubt  the 
reason  of  the  difference? 

I  think  all  these  facts  most  abundantly  prove  that  my 
friend  Judge  Douglas's  proposition,  that  the  ordinance 
of  '87,  or  the  national  restriction  of  slavery,  never  had 
a  tendency  to  make  a  free  state,  is  a  fallacy — a  propo- 
sition without  the  shadow  er  substance  of  truth  about  it. 


142         LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Douglas  sometimes  says  that  all  the  states  (and  it  is 
part  of  this  same  proposition  I  have  been  discussing)  that 
have  become  free,  have  become  so  upon  his  "great  prin- 
ciple;" that  the  State  of  Illinois  itself  came  into  the 
Union  as  a  slave  state,  and  that  the  people,  upon  the 
"  great  principle  "  of  Popular  Sovereignty,  have  since 
made  it  a  free  state.  Allow  rae  but  a  little  while  to  state 
to  you  what  facts  there  are  to  justify  him  in  saying  that 
Illinois  came  into  the  Union  as  a  slave  state. 

I  have  mentioned  to  you  that  there  were  a  few  old 
French  slaves  there.  They  numbered,  I  think,  one  or 
.two  hundred.  Besides  that,  there  had  been  a  territorial 
law  for  indenturing  black  persons.  Under  that  law,  in 
violation  of  the  ordinance  of  '87,  but  without  any  en- 
forcement of  the  ordinance  to  overthrow  the  system,  there 
had  been  a  small  number  of  slaves  introduced  as  inden- 
tured persons.  Owing  to  this  the  clause  for  the  prohibi- 
tion of  slavery  was  slightly  modified.  Instead  of  running 
like  yours,  that  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude, 
except  for  crime  of  which  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted,  should  exist  in  the  state,  they  said  that  neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  should  thereafter  be  in- 
troduced, and  that  the  children  of  indentured  servant* 
should  be  born  free;  and  nothing  was  said  about  the 
few  old  French  slaves.  Out  of  this  fact,  that  the  clause 
for  prohibiting  slavery  was  modified  because  of  the  actual 
presence  of  it,  Douglas  asserts  again  and  again  that 
Illinois  came  into  the  Union  as  a  slave  state.  How  far 
the  facts  sustain  the  conclusion  that  h<3  dr»ws,  it  is  for 
intelligent  and  impartial  men  to  decide.  I  leave  it  with 
you  with  these  remarks,  worthy  of  being  remembered, 
that  that  little  thing,  those  few  indentured  servants  be- 
ing there,  was  of  itself  sufficient  to  modify  a  Constitution 
made  by  a  people  ardently  desiring  to  have  a  free  Con- 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.        143 

stitution ;  showing  the  power  of  the  actual  presence  of  the 
institution  of  slavery  to  prevent  any  people,  however 
anxious  to  make  a  free  state,  from  making  it  perfectly  so. 

I  have  been  detaining  you  longer,  perhaps,  than  I 
ought  to  do. 

I  am  in  some  doubt  whether  to  introduce  another  topic 
upon  which  I  could  talk  a  while.  [Cries  of  "  Go  on," 
and  "  Give  us  it."]  It  is  this  then  :  Douglas's  popular 
sovereignty,  as  a  principle,  is  simply  this:  If  one  man 
chooses  to  make  a  slave  of  another  man,  neither  that  man 
nor  anybody  else  has  a  right  to  object.  Apply  it  to  gov- 
ernment, as  he  seeks  to  apply  it,  and  it  is  this  :  if,  in  a 
new  territory,  into  which  a  few  people  are  beginning  to 
enter  for  the  purpose  of  making  their  homes,  they  choose 
to  either  exclude  slavery  from  their  limits,  or  to  establish 
it  there,  however  one  or  the  other  may  affect  the  persons 
to  be  enslaved,  or  the  infinitely  greater  number  of  per- 
sons who  are  afterward  to  inhabit  that  territory,  or  the 
other  members  of  the  family  of  communities  of  which 
they  are  but  an  incipient  member,  or  the  general  head 
of  the  family  of  states  as  parent  of  all — however  their 
action  may  affect  one  or  the  other  of  these,  there  is  no 
power  or  right  to  interfere.  That  is  Douglas's  popular 
sovereignty  applied.  Now  I  think  that  there  is  a  real 
popular  sovereignty  in  the  world.  I  think  a  definition 
of  popular  sovereignty,  in  the  abstract,  would  be  about 
this :  that  each  man  shall  do  precisely  as  he  pleases  with 
himself,  and  with  all  those  things  which  exclusively  con- 
cern him.  Applied  in  government,  this  principle  would 
be,  that  a  general  government  shall  do  all  those  things 
which  pertain  to  it,  and  all  the  local  governments  shall 
do  precisely  as  they  please  in  respect  to  those  matters 
which  exclusively  concern  them. 

[Upon  what  principle  shall  it  be  said  the  planting  of 


1-1:4        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

a  new  territory  by  the  first  thousand  people  that  migrate 
to  it,  is  a  matter  concerning  them  exclusively?  What 
kind  of  logic  is  it  that  argues  that  it  in  no  wise  con- 
cerns, if  you  please,  the  black  men  who  are  to  be  en- 
slaved? Or  if  you  are  afraid  to  say  anything  about 
that ;  if  you  have  been  bedeviled  for  your  sympathy  for 
the  negro;  if  noses  have  been  turned  up  at  you;  and 
if  you  have  been  accused  of  having  wanted  the  negro 
as  your  social  equal,  for  a  juror,  to  be  a  witness  against 
your  white  brethren,  or  even  to  marry  with  him  ;  if  you 
have  been  accused  of  all  this,  until  you  are  afraid  to 
speak  of  the  colored  race; — then,  I  ?sk  you,  what  right 
is  there  to  say  that  the  planting  of  free  soil  with  slavery 
has  no  effect  upon  the  white  men  that  are  to  go  there 
afterward  as  emigrants  from  the  older  states  ?  By  what 
right  do  a  few  of  the  first  settlers  fix  that  first  condition 
beyond  the  power  of  succeeding  millio'ns  to  eradicate  it? 
Why  shall  a  few  men  be  allowed,  as  it  were,  to  sow  that 
virgin  soil  with  Canada  thistles,  or  any  other  pest  of  the 
soil,  which  the  farmer,  in  subsequent  ages,  cannot  erad- 
icate without  endless  toil.  Is  it  a  matter  that  exclu- 
sively concerns  those  few  people  that  settle  there  first? 

Douglas  argues  that  it  is  a  matter  of  exclusive  local 
jurisdiction.  What  enables  him  to  say  that?  It  is  be- 
cause he  looks  upon  slavery  as  so  insignificant  that  the 
people  may  decide  that  question  for  themselves,  albeit 
they  are  not  fit  to  decide  who  shall  be  their  governor, 
judge,  or  secretary,  or  who  have  been  any  of  their  offi- 
cers. These  are  vast  national  matters,  in  his  estimation  ; 
but  the  little  matter,  in  his  estimation,  is  the  planting 
of  slavery  there.  That  is  of  purely  local  interest,  which 
nobody  should  be  allowed  to  say  a  word  about.  It  is  a 
great  national  question  that  Sammedary  shall  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  President  as  Governor  of  Kansas,  that 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.        145 

he  may  go  there  for  a  year  or  two,  and  come  away  with- 
out there  being  left  behind  him  a  sign  for  good  or  evil 
of  his  having  been  there  ;  but  the  question  of  planting 
slavery  on  that  soil  is  a  little,  local,  unimportant  matter, 
that  nobody  ought  to  be  allowed  to  speak  of.  Such  an 
expression  is  absolutely  shameful. 

Labor  is  the  great  source  from  which  nearly  all,  if  not 
all,  human  comforts  and  necessaries  are  drawn.  There 
is  a  difference  of  opftiion  about  the  elements  of  labor  in 
a  society.  Some  men  assume  that  there  is  a  necessary 
connection  between  capital  and  labor,  and  that  connec- 
tion draws  within  it  all  of  the  labor  of  the  community. 
They  assume  that  nobody  works  unless  capital  excites 
him  to  work.  They  begin  next  to  consider  what  is  the 
best  way  for  capital  to  be  used  to  induce  people  to 
work.  They  say  that  there  are  but  two  ways ;  one  is, 
to  hire  men  and  to  allure  them  to  labor  by  their  own 
consent,  and  the  other  is,  to  buy  the  men,  and  drive 
them  to  labor.  This  latter  is  slavery.  Having  assumed 
so  much,  they  proceed  to  discuss  the  question  of  whether 
the  laborers  themselves  are  better  off  in  the  condition 
of  slavery  or  of  hired  laborers;  and  they  usually  decide 
that  they  are  better  off  in  the  condition  of  slaves. 

In  the  first  place,  I  say  that  that  whole  theory  is  a 
mistake.  That  there  is  a  certain  relation  between  cap- 
ital and  labor  I  admit.  That  it  does  exist,  and  right- 
fully exist,  and  that  it  is  proper  that  it  should  exist,  I 
think  is  true.  I  think,  in  the  progress  of  things,  that 
men  who  are  industrious,  and  sober,  and  honest  in  the 
pursuit  of  their  own  interests,  should,  after  a  while,  ac- 
cumulate capital,  and  then  should  be  allowed  to  enjoy 
it  in  peace,  and  also,  if  they  choose,  when  they  have 
accumulated  it,  use  it  to  save  themselves  from  actual 
labor,  by  hiring  other  people  to  labor  for  them.  In 
13 


146       LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN. 

doing  so,  they  do  not  wrong  the  man  they  employ,  for 
they  find  young  men  who  have  not  of  their  own  land  to 
work  upon,  or  shops  to  labor  in,  and  who  are  benefited 
by  working  for  others  in  the  capacity  of  hired  laborers, 
receiving  their  capital  for  it.  Thus,  a  fe.w  men  that  own 
capital,  hire  others,  and  thus  establish  the  relation  of 
capital  and  labor  rightfully ;  a  relation  of  which  I  make 
no  complaint.  But  I  insist  that  the  relation,  after  all, 
does  not  embrace  more  than  one-eighth  of  all  the  labor 
of  the  country.  At  least  seven-eighths  of  the  labor  is 
done  without  relation  to  it. 

Take  the  State  of  Ohio.  Out  of  eight  bushels  of 
wheat,  seven  arc  raised  by  those  men  who  labor  for 
themselves,  aided  by  their  boys  growing  to  manhood, 
neither  being  hired  nor  hiring,  but  literally  laboring 
upon  their  own  hook,  asking  no  favor  of  capital,  of  hired 
laborer,  or  of  the  slave.  That  is  the  true  condition  of 
the  larger  portion  of  all  the  labor  done  in  this  commu- 
nity, or  that  should  be  the  condition  of  labor  in  well- 
regulated  communities  of  agriculturists.  Thus  much  for 
that  part  of  the  subject. 

Again  :  the  assumption  that  the  slave  is  in  a  better 
condition  than  the  hired  laborer,  includes  the  further 
assumption  that  he  who  is  once  a  hired  laborer  always 
remains  a  hired  laborer ;  that  there  is  a  certain  class  of 
men  who  remain  through  life  in  a  dependent  condition. 
Then  they  endeavor  to  point  out  that  when  they  get  old 
they  have  no  kind  masters  to  take  care  of  them,  and 
that  they  fall  dead  in  the  traces,  with  the  harness  of 
actual  labor  upon  their  feeble  backs.  In  point  of  fact 
that  is  a  false  assumption.  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
a  man  who  is  a  hired  laborer,  of  a  necessity,  always 
remaining  in  his  early  condition.  The  general  rule  is 
otherwise.  I  know  it  is  so,  and  I  will  tell  you  why, 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        147 

When  at  an  early  age,  I  was  myself  a  hired  laborer,  at 
twelve  dollars  per  month  ;  and  therefore  I  do  know  that 
there  is  not  always  the  necessity  for  actual  labor  because 
once  there  was  propriety  in  being  so.  My  understand- 
ing of  the  hired  laborer  is  this  :  A  young  man  finds 
himself  of  an  age  to  be  dismissed  from  parental  control; 
he  has  for  his  capital  nothing,  save  two  strong  hands 
that  God  has  given  him,  a  heart  willing  to  labor,  and  a 
freedom  to  choose  the  mode  of  his  work  and  the  man- 
ner of  his  employer ;  he  has  got  no  soil  nor  shop,  and 
he  avails  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  hiring  himself 
to  some  man  who  has  capital  to  pay  him  a  fair  day's 
wages  for  a  fair  day's  work.  He  is  benefited  by  avail- 
ing himself  of  that  privilege.  He  works  industriously, 
he  behaves  soberly,  and  the  result  of  a  year  or  two's 
labor  is  a  surplus  of  capital.  Now  he  buys  land  on  his 
own  hook ;  he  settles,  marries,  begets  sons  and  darfgh- 
ters,  and  in  course  of  time  he  too  has  enough  capital 
to  hire  some  new  beginner. 

In  this  same  way  every  member  of  the  whole  com- 
munity benefits  and  improves  his  condition.  That  is 
the  true  condition  of  labor  in  the  world,  and  it  breaks 
up  the  saying  of  these  men  that  there  is  a  class  of  men 
chained  down  throughout  life  to  labor  for  another. 
There  is  no  such  case  unless  he  be  of  that  confiding  and 
leaning  disposition  that  makes  it  preferable  for  him  to 
choose  that  course,  or  unless  he  be  a  vicious  man,  who, 
by  reason  of  his  vice,  is,  in  some  way  prevented  from 
improving  his  condition,  or  else  he  be  a  singularly  unfor- 
tunate man.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  man  being 
bound  down  in  a  free  country  through  his  life  as  a 
laborer.  This  progress  by  which  the  poor,  honest,  in- 
dustrious, and  resolute  man  raises  himself,  that  he  may 
work  on  his  own  account,  and  hire  somebody  else,  is 


148        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

that  progress  that  human  nature  is  entitled  to,  is  that 
improvement  in  condition  that  is  intended  to  be  secured 
by  those  institutions  under  which  we  live,  is  the  great 
principle  for  which  this  government  was  really  formed. 
Our  government  was  not  established  that  one  man 
might  do  with  himself  as  he  pleases,  and  with  another 
man  too. 

I  hold  that  if  there  is  any  one  thing  that  can  be 
proved  to  be  the  will  of  God  by  external  nature  around 
us,  without  reference  to  revelation,  it  is  the  proposition 
that  whatever  any  one  man  earns  with  his  hands  and  by 
the  sweat  of  his  brow,  he  shall  enjoy  in  peace.  I  say 
that  whereas  God  Almighty  has  given  every  man  one 
mouth  to  be  fed,  and  one  pair  of  hands  adapted  to  fur- 
nish food  for  that  mouth,  if  anything  can  be  proved  to 
be  the  will  of  Heaven,  it  is  proved  by  this  fact,  that  that 
mo"uth  is  to  be  fed  by  those  hands,  without  being  inter- 
fered with  by  any  other  man  who  has  also  his  mouth  to 
feed  and  his  hands  to  labor  with.  I  hold  if  the  Al- 
mighty had  ever  made  a  set  of  men  that  should  do  all 
the  eating  and  none  of  the  work,  he  would  have  made 
them  with  mouths  only  and  no  hands,  and  if  he  had  ever 
made  another  class  that  he  had  intended  should  do  all 
the  work  and  none  of  the  eating,  he  would  have  made 
them  without  mouths  and  with  all  hands.  But  inasmuch 
as  he  has  not  chosen  to  make  man  in  that  way,  if  any- 
thing is  proved,  it  is  that  those  hands  and  mouths  are 
to  be  co-operative  through  life  and  not  to  be  interfered 
with.  That  they  are  to  go  forth  and  improve  their  con- 
dition as  I  have  been  trying  to  illustrate,  is  the  inherent 
right  given  to  mankind  directly  by  the  Maker. 

In  the  exercise  of  this  right  you  must  have  room.  In 
the  filling  up  of  countries,  it  turns  out  after  a  while  that 
we  get  so  thick  that  we  have  not  quite  room  enough  for 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        149 

the  exercise  of  that  right,  and  we  desire  to  go  somewhere 
else.  "Where  shall  we  go  to  ?  Where  shall  you  go  to 
escape  from  over-population  and  competition  ?  To  those 
'new  territories  which  belong  to  us,  which  are  God-given 
for  that  purpose.  If,  then,  you  will  go  to  those  territo- 
ries that  you  may  improve  your  condition,  you  have  a 
right  to  keep  them  in  the  best  condition  for  those  going 
into  them,  and  can  they  make  that  natural  advance  in 
their  condition  if  they  find  the  institution  of  slavery 
planted  there? 

My  good  friends,  let  me  ask  you  a  question — you  who 
have  come  from  Virginia  or  Kentucky,  to  get  rid  of  this 
thing  of  slavery — let  me  ask  you  what  headway  would 
you  have  made  in  getting  rid  of  it,  if  by  popular  sover- 
eignty you  find  slavery  on  that  soil  which  you  looked 
for  to  b'e  free  when  you  get  there  ?  You  would  not 
have  made  much  headway  if  you  had  found  slavery 
already  here,  if  you  had  to  sit  down  to  your  labor  by  the 
side  of  the  unpaid  workman. 

I  say,  then,  that  it  is  due  to  yourselves  as  voters,  as 
owners  of  the  new  territories,  that  you  shall  keep  those 
territories  free,  in  the  best  condition  for  all  such  of  your 
gallant  sons  as  may  choose  to  go  there. 

I  do  not  desire  to  elaborate  this  branch  of  the  general 
subject  of  political  discussion  at  this  time  further.  I 
did  not  think  I  would  get  upon  this  topic  at  all,  and  I 
have  detained  you  already  too  long  in  its  discussion.] 

I  have  taken  upon  myself,  in  the  name  of  some  of 
you,  to  say  that  we  expect,  upon  these  principles,  to 
ultimately  beat  them.  In  order  to  do  so,  I  think  we 
want  and  must  have  a  national  policy  in  regard  to  the 
institution  of  slavery,  that  acknowledges  and  deals  with 
that  institution  as  being  wrong.  Whoever  desires  the 
prevention  of  "the  spread  of  slavery  and  the  nationaliza- 


150        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

tion  of  that  institution,  yields  all,  when  he  yields  to  any 
policy  that  either  recognizes  slavery  as  being  right,  or 
as  being  an  indifferent  thing.  Nothing  will  make  you 
successful  but  setting  up  a  policy  which  shall  treat  the 
thing  as  being  wrong.  When  I  say  this,  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  this  General  Government  is  charged  with  the 
duty  of  redressing  or  preventing  all  the  wrongs  in  the 
world;  but  I  do  think  that  it  is  charged  with  prevent- 
ing and  redressing  all  wrongs  which  are  wrongs  to  itself. 
This  Government  is  expressly  charged  with  the  duty  of 
providing  for  the  general  welfare.  We  believe  that  the 
spreading  out  and  perpetuity  of  the  institution  of  slavery 
impairs  the  general  welfare.  We  believe — nay,  we  know, 
that  that  is  the  only  thing  that  has  ever  threatened  the 
perpetuity  of  the  Union  itself.  The  only  thing  which 
has  ever  menaced  the  destruction  of  the  government 
under  which  we  live  is  this  very  thing.  To  repress  this 
thing,  we  think,  is  providing  for  the  general  welfare. 
Our  friends  in  Kentucky  differ  from  us.  We  need  not 
make  our  argument  for  them ;  but  we,  who  think  it  is 
wrong  in  all  its  relations,  or  in  some  of  them  at  least, 
must  decide  as  to  our  own  actions,  and  our  own  course, 
upon  our  own  judgment. 

I  say  that  we  must  not  interfere  with  the  institution 
of  slavery  in  the  states  where  it  exists,  because  the  Con- 
stitution forbids  it,  and  the  general  welfare  does  not 
require  us  to  do  so.  We  must  not  withhold  an  efficient 
fugitive  slave  law ;  because  the  Constitution  requires  us, 
as  I  understand  it,  not  to  withhold  such  a  law.  But 
we  must  prevent  the  outspreading  of  the  institution ; 
because  neither  the  Constitution  nor  general  welfare 
requires  us  to  extend  it.  We  must  prevent  the  revival 
of  the  African  slave-trade,  and  the  enacting,  by  Congress, 
of  a  territorial  slave  code.  We  must  prevent  each  of 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN          151 

these  things  being  done  by  either  congresses  or  courts. 
The  people  of  these  United  States  are  the  rightful 
masters  of  both  congresses  and  courts,  not  to  overthrow 
the  Constitution,  but  to  overthrow  the  men  who  pervert 
the  Constitution. 

To  do  these  things  we  must  employ  instrumentalities. 
We  must  hold  conventions;  we  must  adopt  platforms,  if 
we  conform  to  ordinary  custom ;  we  must  nominate  can- 
didates, and  we  must  carry  elections,  "in  all  these  things, 
I  think  that  we  ought  to  keep  in  view  our  real  purpose, 
and  in  none  do  anything  that  stands  adverse  to  our  pur- 
pose. If  we  shall  adopt  a  platform  that  fails  to  recog- 
nize or  express  our  purpose,  or  elect  a  man  that  declares 
himself  inimical  to  our  purpose,  we  not  only  make  nothing 
by  our  success,  but  we  tacitly  admit  that  we  act  upon  no 
other  principle  than  a  desire  to  have  "the  loaves  and 
fishes,"  by  which,  in  the  end,  our  apparent  success  is 
really  an  injury  to  us. 

I  know  that  this  is  very  desirable  with  me,  as  with 
everybody  else,  that  all  the  elements  of  the  Opposition 
shall  unite  in  the  next  Presidential  election  and  in  all 
future  time.  I  am  anxious  that  that  should  be,  but  there 
are  things  seriously  to  be  considered  in  relation  to  that 
matter.  If  the  terms  can  be  arranged,  I  am  in  favor 
of  the  Union.  But,  suppose  we  shall  take  up  some 
man  and  put  him  upon  one  end  or  the  other  of  the 
ticket,  who  declares  himself  against  us  in  regard  to  the 
prevention  of  the  spread  of  slavery — who  turns  up  his 
nose,  and  says  he  is  tired  of  hearing  anything  more 
about  it — who  is  more  against  us  than  against  the  ene- 
my, what  will  be  the  issue  ?  Why,  he  will  get  no  slave 
states  after  all — he  has  tried  that  already,  until  being 
beat  is  the  rule  for  him.  If  we  nominate  him  upon 
that  ground,  he  will  not  carry  a  slave  state,  and  not 


152       LIFE    AND    SPEECHES   OF    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

only  so,  but  that  portion  of  our  men  who  are  high- 
strung  upon  the  principle  we  really  fight  for,  will  not 
go  for  him,  and  he  won't  get  a  single  electoral  vote 
anywhere,  except,  perhaps,  in  the  State  of  Maryland. 
There  is  no  use  in  saying  to  us  that  we  are  stubborn 
and  obstinate,  because  we  won't  do  some  such  thing  as 
this.  "VVe  can  not  do  it.  We  can  not  get  our  men  to 
vote  it.  I  speak  by  the  card,  that  we  can  not  give  the 
State  of  Illinois,  iri  such  case,  by  fifty  thousand.  We 
would  be  flatter  down  than  the  "Negro  Democracy" 
themselves  have  the  heart  to  wish  to  see  us. 

After  saying  this  much,  let  me  say  a  little  on  the 
other  side.  There  are  plenty  of  men  in  the  slave  states 
thai  are  altogether  good  enough  for  me,  to  be  either 
President  or  Vice-President,  provided  they  will  profess 
their  sympathy  with  our  purpose,  and  will  place  them- 
selves on  the  ground  that  our  men,  upon  principle,  can 
vote  for  them.  There  are  scores  of  them,  good  men  in 
their  character  for  intelligence  and  talent  and  integrity. 
If  such  a  one  will  place  himself  upon  the  right  ground, 
I  am  for  his  occupying  one  place  upon  the  next  Repub- 
lican or  Opposition  ticket.  I  will  heartily  go  for  him. 
But,  unless  he  does  so  place  himself,  I  think  it  a  mat- 
ter of  perfect  nonsense  to  attempt  to  bring  about  a 
union  upon  any  other  basis;  that  if  a  union  be  made, 
the  elements  will  scatter  so  that  there  can  be  no  success 
for  such  a  ticket,  nor  anything  like  success.  The  good 
old  maxims  of  the  Bible  are  applicable,  and  truly  appli- 
cable, to  human  affairs ;  and  in  this,  as  in  other  things, 
we  may  say  here  that  "  He  who  is  not  for  us  is  against 
us;"  "He  who  gathereth  not  with  us  scattereth."  1 
should  be  glad  to  have  some  of  the  many  good,  and  able, 
and  noble  men  of  the  South  to  place  themselves  where 
we  can  confer  upon  them  the  high  honor  of  an  election, 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.        153 

upon  one  or  the  other  end  of  our  ticket.  It  would  do 
my  soul  good  to  do  that  thing.  It  would  enable  us 
to  teach  them  that,  inasmuch  as  we  select  one  of  their 
own  number  to  carry  out  our  principles,  we  are  free 
from  the  charge  that  we  mean  more  than  we  say. 

But,  my  friends,  I  have  detained  you  much  longer 
than  I  expected  to  do.  I  believe  I  may  do  myself  the 
compliment  to  say,  that  you  have  stayed  and  heard  me 
with  great  patience,  for  which  I  return  you  my  most 
sincere  thanks. 


LIFE  OF  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN. 


To  form  an  accurate  opinion  of  the  character  of  an 
individual,  it  is  necessary  to  estimate  that  of  the  people 
from  which  he  has  sprung,  and  among  whom  he  has 
lived.  The  people  of  Maine,  descended  from  the  Eng- 
lish Puritans  and  merchant  adventurers,  have  preserved 
in  an  eminent  degree  the  characteristic  traits  impressed 
by  their  origin,  prominent  among  which  are  a  devotion 
to  the  doctrines  of  popular  liberty,  and  the  spirit  of 
commercial  enterprise.  Possessing  a  country  where  the 
necessities  of  soil  and  climate  demand  unceasing  exer- 
tion, and  where  the  bounties  of  nature  are  offered  only 
to  toil,  they  feel  the  nature  and  dignity  of  labor,  and 
are  sensitive  as  to  its  rights.  Less  exclusively  devoted 
to  agriculture  than  the  people  of  any  other  state,  they 
seek  their  wealth  in  the  forest  and  on  the  sea.  Trained 
by  their  perilous  toil,  like  the  pioneers  of  the  West^  they 
are  hardy,  athletic,  self-reliant,  and  brave.  As  Maine 
surpasses  all  the  other  states  in  the  tonnage  of  her  ship- 
ping and  the  extent  of  maritime  privileges,  the  charac- 
ter of  her  people  is  strongly  marked  by  their  commercial 
relations.  Commerce,  as  it  depends  upon  the  benefits 
derived  from  mutual  exchanges  with  distant  countries, 
is  opposed  to  exclusiveness  and  local  prejudice.  Thus, 

(167) 


158        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN. 

with  the  intelligence,  refinement,  and  wealth  which  com- 
merce has  given  to  this  maritime  state,  and  with  the  deep 
conviction  of  the  value  of  their  own  system  of  free  labor, 
we  find  among  the  people  of  Maine  a  most  intimate 
knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the  men,  institutions,  and 
rights  of  the  other  states,  and  a  devoted  attachment  to 
the  Union  as  the  source  of  national  and  commercial 
prosperity. 

Such  are  the  people  from  whom  has  sprung  the  indi- 
vidual who  now  occupies  the  proud  position  of  candidate 
for  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  United  States,  and  such 
the  people  who,  by  making  him  for  more  than  twenty 
years  the  recipient  of  their  highest  honors,  have  de- 
clared him  to  be  a  true  representative  of  their  senti- 
ments and  character. 

HANNIBAL  HAMLIN,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  is  the 
son  of  Cyrus  Hamlin  and  Anna  Livermore,  and  was 
born  in  Paris,  the  shire  town  of  the  county  of  Oxford, 
in  Maine,  on  the  27th  of  August,  1809.  Cyrus  Ham- 
lin, a  physician  by  profession,  upon  removing  from  hi? 
native  State,  Massachusetts,  first  settled  in  the  town  of 
Livermore,  where  he  married  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Eli  • 
jah  Livermore,  a  principal  proprietor  of  that  town,  an& 
connected  with  the  distinguished  family  of  that  name  in 
New  Hampshire.  While  in  Livermore,  Dr.  Hamlin  built 
the  dwelling-house  in  which  were  born  the  three  broth- 
ers Washburne,  now  so  worthily  representing  three  states 
in  Congress. 

.  On  the  formation  of  the  county  of  Oxford,  Dr.  Ham- 
lin received  the  responsible  appointment  of  Clerk  of  the 
Courts  of  the  county,  and  upon  the  separation  of  Maine 
from  Massachusetts,  .was  appointed  High  Sheriff  of  the 
county,  which  office  he  held  for  several  years.  He  died 
in  1828,  aged  about  58,  universally  respected  for  hib 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN.        159 

probity,  benevolence,  and  Christian  character,  having 
been  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

Dr.  Hamlin's  father,  the  grandfather  of  Hannibal,  re- 
sided in  Massachusetts,  and  before  the  Revolution  com- 
manded a  company  of  Minute  Men,  in  which  five  of  his 
sons  were  enrolled.  One  of  them  served  during  the 
Revolutionary  war,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Cincinnati. 

Hannibal  was  the  sixth  and  youngest  son  of  seven 
children,  and  is  not  the  only  one  of  his  family  who  has 
held  a  prominent  position  in  his  State,  one  of  whom, 
Hon.  Elijah  Hamlin,  an  elder  brother,  residing  at  Ban- 
gor,  having  been  a  member  of  the  Legislature  and  Senate 
of  Maine,  and  also  land  agent  of  the  State,  and  having 
been  a  candidate  of  his  party  for  the  positions  of  mem- 
ber of  Congress  and  Governor  of  Maine. 

Hannibal  Hamlin  received  his  early  instruction  at  a 
private  school  in  Paris,  and  at  a  public  academy  in 
Hebron,  an  adjoining  town.  It  was  his  intention  to 
obtain  a  collegiate  education,  and  he  was  nearly  fitted  for 
college,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  when  an  elder  brother,  who 
it  was  designed  should  reside  at  home  and  carry  on  the 
farm,  failed  in  health  and  left  to  pursue  the  study  of 
medicine.  The  usage  of  the  country  required  that  one, 
at  least,  of  the  sons  of  the  family  should  remain  at  the 
homestead,  and  Hannibal  left  his  studies  at  the  academy, 
relinquished  the  prospects  of  a  collegiate  career,  and  took 
his  place  with  the  laborers  on  the  home  farm. 

For  two  years,  he  worked  there  with  the  steadiness  of  a 
man,  when,  at  his  father's  instance,  and  upon  the  assur- 
ance that  his  assistance  could  be  dispensed  with,  he 
determined  to  commence  the  study  of  the  law.  Quit- 
ting home,  he  read  law  in  the  office  of  his  older  brother, 
Elijah,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  when  his  father's 


160        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN. 

death  again  broke  up  his  plans.  The  only  property 
left  by  his  father  was  the  farm,  which  was  given  to  hia 
mother,  and  filial  duty  left  him  no  alternative  but  to 
remain  and  take  charge  of  the  farm,  where  he  labored 
unremittingly  for  two  years  after  his  father's  death. 

Great  as  the  sacrifice  required  in  the  abandonment  of 
a  professional  career  must  have  seemed  to  an  ambitious 
young  man,  it  was  doubtless  a  blessing  in  disguise.  The 
seclusion  of  a  rural  life  developed,  without  doubt,  his 
reflective  faculties,  and  the  necessity  of  daily  toil  gave 
that  contempt  for  personal  indulgence,  and  that  energy 
of  will  which  have  since  distinguished  the  public  man. 
The  long  days  of  manual  toil  were  not  unrelieved  by 
intellectual  rest.  His  father's  private  library,  and  the 
well-selected  books  of  the  "social  library/'  one  of  the 
"  institutions "  of  Maine,  afforded  reading  which  may 
have  been  more  profitable  for  his  general  culture  than 
the  technical  studies  of  a  profession. 

The  happy  influences  of  nature  ministered  also  to  his 
culture.  The  county,  in  which  he  resided,  presents  land- 
scape scenery  of  great  magnificence.  Lofty  mountains, 
of  massive  granite,  may  be  seen  rising  abruptly,  one 
behind  the  other,  in  solemn  grandeur,  in  the  distance, 
while  glorious  views  are  opened  of  deep-wooded  valleys, 
and  small  but  beautiful  lakes,  lying  in  amphitheaters  of 
hills. 

Freedom  has  its  birth-place  in  mountain  homes,  and 
the  future  advocate  of  freedom  may  have  felt  the  inspir- 
ation of  such  scenery,  so  well  expressed  by  the  words  of 
one  of  Maine's  most  gifted  sons  : 

"  As  long  as  yonder  firs  shall  spread 
Their  green  arms  o'er  the  mountain's  head, 
As  long  as  yonder  cliff  shall  stand, 
Where  join  the  ocean  and  the  land, 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN.        161 

Shall  those  cliffs  and  mountains  be 
Proud  retreats  for  liberty." — UPHAM. 

An  incident  in  the  life  of  young  Hamlin,  during  the 
period  of  his  home  labors,  illustrates  the  practical  train- 
ing to  which  the  young  'men  of  New  England  are  sub- 
jected. When  Hannibal  was  about  nineteen  years  old, 
his  father  having  bought  a  township  of  land  on  Dead 
river,  for  lumbering  purposes,  and  being  unable  to  com- 
plete the  survey  in  the  fall,  intrusted  the  work  to  his  son. 
The  township  was  distant  about  twelve  miles  from  any 
settlement,  and  covered  with  the  primeval  forest.  On 
the  last  of  March,  the  young  man  took  his  compass  and 
chain,  and  started  for  the  woods  on  snow-shoes,  with  a 
party  under  his  charge,  himself  "-sacking,"  as  it  is  called 
in  woodman's  phrase,  his  part  of  the  necessary  provisions 
on  his  back.  He  remained  in  the  woods  over  a  month, 
sleeping  wherever  the  night  overtook  them,  often  in  the 
gorges  of  the  mountains  upon  the  snow,  with  a  depth  of 
seven  feet  beneath  him. 

Another  example  will  occur  to  all  of  a  young  man, 
whose  first  training  for  a  life  of  practical  labor,  which 
has  blessed  his  country  and  the  world,  was  made  as  a 
surveyor. 

In  the  spring  of  1830,  shortly  before  arriving  at  his 
majority,  Mr.  Hamlin,  in  company  with  a  young  man 
who  has  since  attained  an  honorable  public  position, 
Horatio  King,  at  present  First  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General  of  the  United  States,  bought,  on  credit,  a  Dem- 
ocratic paper  published  in  Paris,  called  the  Jeffersonian, 
a  name  indicative  of  the  school  of  politics  of  which  Mr. 
Hamlin  has  been  so  faithful  a  disciple  and  teacher. 
While  connected  with  the  paper,  Mr.  Hamlin,  although 
constantly  furnishing  the  contributions  of  his  pen,  both 
in  prose  and  verse,  stood  regularly  at  the  case,  and  set  the 


162        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN. 

types  with  his  own  hands.  This  editorial  experience 
was  an  important  part  of  the  education  of  the  future 
statesman,  as  it  compelled  him  to  study  constitutional 
and  political  history,  and  gave  a  definiteness  to  his  polit- 
ical opinions,  which  is  best  secured  by  writing  under 
responsibility  to  the  public  eye. 

In  the  fall  of  1830,  Mr.  Hamlin  sold  out  his  interest 
in  the  Jeffersonian  to  his  partner,  and  following  the  ad- 
vice of  his  mother,  recommenced  the  study  of  the  law 
with  Hon.  Joseph  Gr.  Cole,  of  Paris,  afterward  a  judge 
of  the  Circuit  Court.  He  subsequently  entered  the  office 
of  Messrs.  Fessenden,  Deblois  &  Fessenden,  of  Portland, 
and  it  is  an  interesting  coincidence,  that  the  younger 
partner  of  that  firm  is  now  the  distinguished  colleague 
of  Mr.  Hamlin  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

After  reading  law  the  required  term — three  years — 
Mr.  Hamlin  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  his  native  county, 
and  at  once  entered  upon  the  responsibilities  of  his  pro- 
fession, as,  on  the  day  of  his  admission,  he  was  retained 
in  an  important  case,  argued  it  to  the  jury,  and  obtained 
a  verdict.  In  April,  1833,  he  removed  to  Hampden,  a 
town  with  about  four  thousand  inhabitants,  and  a  village 
of  fifteen  hundred,  situated  on  the  Penobscot  river,  six 
miles  below  the  city  of  Bangor,  where  he  now  resides. 

Mr.  Hamlin  entered  at  once  on  an  extensive  practice 
in  his  profession,  his  reputation  soon  being  established 
as  a  faithful  and  able  lawyer.  His  business  habits,  and 
the  talent  displayed  as  a  public  speaker  at  the  bar,  where 
he,  from  the  first,  argued  his  own  causes,  and  as  a  lec- 
turer and  speaker  in  Lyceums,  and  other  popular  assem- 
blies, as  well  as  the  earnestness  and  distinctness  of  his 
political  opinions,  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
dominant  party,  and  within  three  years  from  the  time 
of  his  taking  up  his  residence  among  them,  his  fellow- 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF    HANNIBAL   HAMLIN.       163 

citizens  elected  him  to  a  seat  in  the  lower  house  of  the 
Legislature. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  of  Maine 
for  the  years  1836,  '37,  '38,  '39,  and  '40.  He  became  at 
once  a  prominent  member  of  the  House,  and  one  of  the 
leaders  of  his  party,  assuming  a  leading  part  in  all  the 
principal  debates,  and  was  also  one  of  the  most  active 
business  men  in  the  body.  He  was  Speaker  of  the  House 
for  the  years  1837,  '39,  and  '40,  being  only  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age  when  first  elected  Speaker,  and  at  the 
close  of  each  year  received  the  unanimous  vote  of  thanks 
of  the  House  for  the  manner  in  which  he  discharged  his 
duties. 

In  1840  he  was  candidate  for  Congress,  during  the 
Harrison  tornado,  and  was  defeated  in  a  poll  of  some 
fifteen  thousand,  by  less  than  two  hundred  votes.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice,  that  in  that  election,  he  canvassed  the 
district  with  his  opponent,  Hon.  Elisha  H.  Allen,  this 
being  the  first  instance,  it  is  believed,  in  which  it  was 
ever  done  in  New  England. 

In  1843,  the  election  having  been  postponed  one  year, 
in  consequence  of  a  new  apportionment  of  the  census, 
Mr.  Hanilin  was  again  a  candidate,  running  against  his 
former  competitor,  and  was  elected  by  about  a  thousand 
majority. 

In  1844, -Mr.  Hamlin  was  again  elected  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and,  during  this  Congress,  was  Chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Elections,  and  a  member  of 
the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs.  On  returning  home, 
in  March,  1847,  on  completion  of  his  service  in  the 
House,  his  town  had  not  elected  a  Representative  to  the 
State  Legislature,  it  requiring  a  majority  of  all  the  votes, 
and  Mr.  Hamlin  being  put  in  nomination,  was  elected 
and  served  in  18 17. 


164       LIFE    AND   SPEECHES   OF    HANNIBAL   HAMLIN. 

In  May,  1848,  Gov.  Fairfield,  then  Senator  from  Maine, 
having  deceased,  Mr.  Hamlin  was  elected  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  four 
years,  and  was  re-elected  on  the  25th  of  July,  1851,  after 
encountering  the  .bitter  hostility  of  the  then  pro-slavery 
Democrats,  they  refusing  to  vote  for  him  to  the  last,  not- 
withstanding he  was  the  regular  nominee. 

The  Augusta  Age,  the  then  official  paper  of  its  party — 
the  Democratic  organ,  of  August  27,  1850,  thus  congrat- 
ulated its  party  upon  the  election  of  Mr.  Hamlin  to  the 
Senate : 

"  Hon.  Hannibal  Hamlin,  the  regular  Democratic  nominee  for 
United  States  Senator,  was  elected  in  both  Houses  of  the  Legis- 
lature, on  Thursday  last. 

"We  congratulate  the  Democracy  of  the  State  upon  the  result. 
We  rejoice  that  the  question  has  been  finally  disposed  of  in  a 
manner  conformable  to  the  wishes  and  expectations  of  a  great 
majority  of  the  Democratic  party  of  Maine. 

"The  failure  to  elect  Mr.  Hamlin  at  an  earlier  period  in  the 
session,  was  occasioned  by  the  refusal  of  a  small  portion  of  the 
Democratic  members  to  support  him,  the  pretext  of  their  opposition 

BEING    THE    OPINIONS    HE    ENTERTAINED    UPON    THE    SUBJECT    OF     THE 

EXTENSION  OF  SLAVERY,  and  the  determination  which  he  cherished 
of  obeying  the  resolutions  of  instruction  passed  by  the  last  Legis- 
lature in  relation  to  that  subject. 

"After  repeated  attempts  to  effect  an  election  had  been  made 
without  success,  several  members  of  the  free-soil  party,  believ- 
ing that  there  was  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Democrats  op- 
posed to  Mr.  Hamlin,  to  cut  him  down,  IN  CONSEQUENCE  OF  HIS 

OPPOSITION  TO  THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  SLAVERY   INTO  TERRITORY  NOW 

FREE,  although  not  concurring  with  him  in  political  opinions, 
voluntarily  gave  him  their  votes,  amounting  to  ten  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  and  three  in  the  Senate,  which  secured  his 
election.  It  was  certainly  an  act  of  magnanimity,  which  can  not 
fail  to  be  appreciated,  and  particularly  as  it  was  a  free-will 
offering  (from  men  who  are  in  an  opposing  political  organiza- 
tion) to  Mr.  Hamlin,  FOR  HIS  FIRM  ADHERENCE  TO  PRINCIPLES 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN.          165 

MELD  I.V  COMMON'  BY  THEM  WITH  THE  GREAT  MASS  OF  THE  PEOPLE 
OF  THE  NORTH,  IRRESPECTIVE  OF  PARTY  DISTINCTIONS." 

Mr.  Hamlia  served  in  the  Senate  and  acted  with  the 
Democratic  party  until  1854,  voting,  however,  uniform- 
ly against  all  projects  for  slavery  extension.  He  then 
gave  public  notice  in  the  Senate  of  the  reasons  why 
he  would  no  longer  co-operate  with  the  party,  and  re- 
signed his  position  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Commerce. 

In  June,  1856,  he  was  nominated  by  the  Republicans 
in  Maine  as  candidate  for  Governor,  the  Democratic  party 
having  carried  the  State  the  year  before,  and  being  then 
in  power.  He  entered  upon  the  canvass  in  July,  and 
addressed  public  meetings  nearly  a  hundred  times.  He 
was  elected  by  eighteen  thousand  majority,  over  two 
opponents,  and  twenty-three  thousand  majority  over  his 
Democratic  opponent;  more  than  double  the  majority 
that  was  ever  given  in  a  contested  election, 

On  the  7th  of  January,  1857,  he  resigned  his  seat  in 
the  Senate,  and  was,  on  the  same  day,  inaugurated  Gov- 
ernor. 

On  the  16th  of  the  same  month,  he  was  re-elected 
United  States  Senator  for  six  years  ;  and  on  the  20th  of 
February  following,  resigned  the  office  of  Governor,  and 
returned  to  Washington  on  the  4th  of  March. 

It  may  be  said,  with  strict  truth,  that  during  the  whole 
period  of  his  congressional  life,  Mr.  Hamlin  has  pre-em- 
inently distinguished  himself  as  a  prompt,  efficient,  and 
intelligent  business  man.  His  first  object  was  to  dis- 
charge the  business  demands  made  upon  him  by  his  own 
constituents.  He  never  received  a  business  letter  with- 
out promptly  answering  it. 

All  parties  in  Maine  demanded  his  services,  and  have 
always  accorded  to  him  the  highest  credit  for  the  prompt- 


166        LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF   HANNIBAL    HAMLIN. 

ness  and  fidelity  displayed  in  the  charge  of  their  interests. 
The  heads  of  the  Treasury,  including  such  men  as  Secre- 
tary Guthrie,  Acting  and  Assistant  Secretaries  Hodge 
and  Washington,  and  Governor  Anderson,  Commissioner 
of  Customs,  have  declared  him  to  be  the  best  business 
man  in  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Hamlin  has  been  a  member  of  that  most  important 
Committee,  that  on  Commerce,  during  his  whole  term  in 
the  Senate,  and  was  chairman  seven  years. 

In  addition  to  the  vast  number  of  minor  matters  relat- 
ing to  his  own  constituents  and  State  which  he  took  care 
of,  as  chairman  of  his  committee,  he  had  the  supervision 
of  all  the  great  questions  and  measures  affecting  the  com- 
merce of  the  country,  both  domestic  and  foreign,  which 
were  acted  upon  by  that  committee,  no  bill  being  reported 
which  he  did  not  fully  understand  by  personal  investiga- 
tion. 

Among  the  important  measures  instituted  and  reported 
by  that  committee,  were  those  relating  to  the  improve- 
ment of  harbors,  rivers,  and  lakes,  the  whole  system  of 
light-houses,  the  protection  of  passengers  on  steam  and 
sailing  vessels,  the  location  and  establishment  of  custom- 
houses, the  fixing  of  ports  of  entry  and  delivery,  and 
measures  connected  with  the  coast  survey,  besides  a  mul- 
titude of  other  measures  of  less  importance  connected 
with  commerce  in  all  its  ramifications. 

The  very  important  act  "  For  the  better  security  of 
lives  of  passengers  on  board  of  vessels  impelled  in  whole 
or  in  part  by  steam,"  passed  in  August,  1852,  was  report- 
ed to  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Davis,  of  Massachusetts,  but  was 
prepared  by  Mr.  Harnlin  and  Mr.  Davis  jointly,  and  was 
sustained  by  Mr.  Hamlin  in  several  speeches  in  the  Sen- 
ate. During  all  the  time  subsequent  to  the  passage  of 
the  bill,  while  Mr.  Hamlin  was  chairman,  all  the  amend- 


LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OF    HANNIBAL    HA1ILIN.       ,167 

acts  in  relation  to  that  subject  have  been  reported 
and  supported  by  him,  and  he  has  now  charge  of  the 
bill  passed  by  the  House  on  the  same  subject.  All  the 
members  of  the  Board  of  Supervising  Inspectors,  ap- 
pointed under  these  laws,  will  bear  testimony  to  the 
laborious  investigation  and  practicability  displayed  by 
Mr.  Hamlin  in  connection  with  this  important  matter. 

The  bill  regulating  the  liability  of  shipowners,  was 
reported  by  Mr.  Hamlin,  at  the  second  session  of  the 
Thirty-first  Congress,  and  was  carried  through  the  Sen- 
ate mainly  by  his  efforts.  This  bill  placed  American 
navigation  on  the  same  footing  with  British  navigation, 
and  was  deemed,  by  American  merchants,  of  very  great 
importance.  So  important  was  it  considered  by  the  New 
York  merchants,  that  they  tendered  him  a  public  dinner 
as  a  testimonial  of  their  appreciation  of  his  services, 
which,  however,  he  declined. 

The  codification  of  the  whole  revenue  laws,  prepared 
under  Secretary  Guthrie,  was  made  in  pursuance  of  a 
resolution  introduced  by  Mr.  Hamlin  in  the  Senate,  Jan- 
uary 19,  1853,  who  subsequently  obtained  an  appropria- 
tion of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  same. 

It  was  by  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Hamlin  that  appropria- 
tions were  made  for  the  construction  of  the  various 
custom-houses,  which  have  been  built  within  the  last 
few  years — to  wit:  at  Wheeling,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis, 
Bangor,  Belfast,  Portsmouth,  Galveston,  Georgetown, 
Milwaukie,  Norfolk,  Chicago,  and  more  than  twenty 
other  points  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  It  was  a 
proviso  of  his  that  the  cost  of  construction  should,  in  all 
cases,  be  limited  to  the  amount  appropriated. 

Mr.  Hamlin  had  made  two  elaborate  speeches  on  the 
fisheries,  as  connected  with  the  commerce  and  naval  serv- 
ice of  the  country.  He  has  also  sustained  the  ocean 


168        LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OF  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN. 

mail  service  as  auxiliary  to  the  commerce  of  the  country. 
An  important  report  was  made  by  him  exhibiting  the 
commercial  relations  between  this  country  and  Brazil. 

He  has  always  been  a  friend  to  a  general  system  of 
improvement  of  harbors  and  rivers,  and  besides  report- 
ing many  bills,  has  made  several  speeches  in  defense  of 
the  system. 

The  provision  of  law  which  grants  pensions  to  the 
widows  of  Revolutionary  soldiers  since  1800,  was  the 
work  of  Mr.  Hamlin. 

While  a  member  of  the  House,  Mr.  Hamlin  made  a 
speech  giving  notice  to  the  British  Government  to  term- 
inate the  joint  occupancy  of  the  Territory  of  Oregon. 

This  was  a  progressive  and,  it  may  be  said,  prophetic 
speech.  In  this,  he  indicated  a  Pacific  Railroad,  arid 
predicted  the  establishment  of  great  commercial  states 
on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

He  was  an  early  friend  of  a  graduation  in  the  price  of 
public  lands.  He  was  not,  at  that  time,  a  supporter  of 
the  homestead  bill,  but  has  been,  for  several  years  past, 
earnestly  and  decidedly  so. 

Mr.  Hamlin  was  in  favor  of  the  bill  appropriating  land 
for  agricultural  colleges,  and  another  bill  making  appro- 
priations for  the  benefit  of  the  indigent  insane.  He  was 
an  earnest  advocate  of  the  admission  of  California,  and 
made  the  first  elaborate  speech  in  the  Senate  in  favor 
of  its  admission. 

Mr.  Hamlin  voted  with  his  party  for  the  tariff  of  1846, 
although  he  never  hesitated  to  express  his  personal  pref- 
erence for  a  system  of  specific  duties. 

The  question  arising  in  the  House  on  the  5th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1843,  in  relation  to  the  twenty-first  rule  prohibit- 
ing the  reception  of  abolition  petitions,  after  some 
remarks  by  Mr.  Black,  who  said  he  hoped  the  House 


LIFE  AND  SPEECHES  OP  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN.         169 

would  adopt  the  amendment  which  he  had  proposed,  to 
instruct  the  Committee  on  Rules  to  report  to  the  House 
that  rule  by  which  abolitionists  would  be  debarred  from 
intruding  on  them  their  incendiary  doctrines,  the  effect 
and  operation  of  which  were  most  damnable.  He  de- 
sired the  vote  to  be  recorded  by  yeas  and  nays  ;  and  he 
relied  confidently  upon  a  democratic  majority  to  sustain 
his  motion.  Mr.  Hamlin,  after  declaring  that  the  time, 
as  he  trusted,  had  gone  by  (if  it  ever  existed)  when  the 
galvanic  starts,  and  fits,  and  deep  intonations  of  any 
gentleman  could  produce  an  impression  in  that  hall, 
and  that  he  should  vote  irrespective  of  all  such  influences, 
on  this  and  every  other  question,  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  right  and  wrong,  notwithstanding  the  defiance 
of  the  gentleman  from  Georgia;  proceeded  to  say  that 
he  should  vote  against  the  rule,  because  he  believed  that 
the  right  of  petition  was  not  an  abstraction,  but  a  clear, 
plain,  and  sacred  Constitutional  right,  neither  to  be 
denied  or  infringed  upon.  Such  being  its  character  it 
was  one  which  could  not  be  controlled  by  this  or  any 
other  legislative  body  without  a  Constitutional  violation. 
It  was  a  Constitutional  right  disconnected  with  the  opin- 
ions of  any  body  of  men.  When  the  House  said  in 
advance  that  they  would  not  receive  petitions  upon  any 
particular  subject,  they  undertook  to  prejudge,  and  they 
did  prejudge  the  matter,  and  to  exclude  individuals  from 
privileges  which  Constitutionally  belonged  to  them.  It 
was  confounding  our  ditty  of  receiving  with  the  right  to 
act  after  reception.  He  very  well  understood  that  the 
action  of  the  House  upon  petitions  after  they  were  re- 
ceived, was  to  fully  and  clearly  be  determined  by  a  ma- 
jority. The  right  to  petition  was  a  distinct  question  ; 
the  power  of  the  House  to  reject  or  refuse  the  prayer  is 
another  and  distinct  proposition. 


170       LIFE   AND   SPEECHES   OP   HANNIBAL   HAMLIN. 

If  the  right  of  the  people  to  have  their  petitions  re- 
ceived^ is  dependent  upon  the  will  of  the  majority,  then 
there  was  no  question  over  which  a  majority,  perhaps 
arbitrary  and  tyrannical,  m'ght  not  exercise  that  right; 
and  the  right  of  petition  becomes  then,  not  the  right  of 
a  Constitution,  but  a  right  dependent  upon  the  will  of  a 
majority.  *  *  *  He  was  not  disposed  to  argue  these 
questions.  The  conclusions  which  he  drew  from  them 
were  irresistible  to  his  own  mind.  For  the  reasons 
stated,  or  rather  upon  these  principles,  as  stated,  he  must 
vote  against  the  twenty-first  rule,  and  in  favor  of  receiv- 
ing such  petitions  as  were  presented. 

Mr.  Hamlin'has,  since  that  time,  been  prominently  be- 
fore the  people,  and  his  record  is  known  to  the  country. 
His  course  has  been  consistent  and  honest,  and  should 
he  be  called,  as  we  earnestly  trust  he  may,  to  be  the 
second  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  in  the  government  of  the 
nation,  the  country  wi1!  have  but  furnished  an  additional 
evidence  of  the  wisdom  of  the  people. 

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